WITH  THE  FLYING 
SQUADRON 


o* 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

HKW  YORK  •   BOSTON  •   CHICAGO  •   DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •   SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •   BOMBAY  •   CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 
TORONTO 


Photo:  Vandyk 


FLIGHT-LIEUT.    HAROLD   KOSHER,   R.N. 


With  The  Flying 
Squadron 


BEING  THE  WAR  LETTERS  OF  THE  LATE 

HAROLD    KOSHER 
TO  HIS  FAMILY 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

ARNOLD  BENNETT 


fork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1916 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotypcd.    Published  November,  1916. 
All  rights  reserved 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION  * 

SECTION 

I.      TRAINING  " 

II.      ON    HOME   SERVICE  23 

III.  RAIDS  ON  THE   BELGIAN   COAST  47 

IV.  WITH   THE   B.E.F.  6l 
V.      TAKING  A  NEW  MACHINE  TO  FRANCE  ^ 

VI.      WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN  IO1 

VII.      ON  HOME  SERVICE  AGAIN  I21 

VIII.      WITH   THE   B.E.F.   ONCE   MORE  I2S 

IX.      ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE  J33 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


TO  FACE  PAGE 

FLIGHT-LIEUTENANT  HAROLD  KOSHER,  R.N. 

Frontispiece 

THE  LATE  FLIGHT-LIEUT.  RIGGALL  ON  A  GRAHAME- 

14 

THE  FAMOUS  873  AVRO  FLOWN  BY  FLIGHT-COM- 
MANDER S.  V.  SIPPE,  D.S.O.,  AND  BY  FLIGHT- 
LIEUT.  ROSHER  34 

BRINGING  THE  PILOT  ASHORE  AFTER  A  FLIGHT  ON 
A  SOPWITH  SEAPLANE  44 

"SHORT"  SEAPLANES  AT  ANCHOR  OFF  SPITHEAD  44 
FLIGHT-LIEUT.  HAROLD  ROSHER,  R.N.  54 

SQUADRON-COMMANDER  IVOR  T.  COURTNEY,  R.N.     ?6 

ONE  VICKERS  FIGHTING  BIPLANE  PHOTOGRAPHED 
FROM  ANOTHER  84 

A  VICKERS  FIGHTING  BIPLANE  84 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO  FACE  PAGE 

THE  OVERTURNED  MORANE  9° 

A  SNAPSHOT  OF  LIEUT.  ROSHER  9° 

A  ZEPPELIN  AIRSHIP  Io8 

A  ZEPPELIN  IN  THE  DOUBLE  SHED  AT  JOHANNIS- 
THAL  Io8 

A  TAUBE-TYPE   GERMAN   MONOPLANE  Io8 

114 

A    FIRE    CAUSED    BY    LONG-RANGE    BOMBARDMENT      "4 
FLIGHT-SUB-LIEUT.  WARNEFORD,  V.C.  "4 

A  BRISTOL  SCOUT  BIPLANE    (OR  "  BULLET  ")  J36 

THE  MORANE  "  PARASOL  "  MONOPLANE  FLOWN  BY 

FLIGHT-SUB-LIEUT.    WARNEFORD,   V.C.  J36 

A  NIEUPORT  BIPLANE  X44 

A   BLERIOT  MONOPLANE  X44 

A  B.E.  2C  BIPLANE  J44 


INTRODUCTION 


INTRODUCTION 

HAROLD  KOSHER  was  born  at  Beckenham  on 
the  1 8th  November,  1893,  and  was  educated 
at  The  Dene,  Caterham,  and  subsequently  at 
Woodbridge.  Although  as  a  boy  he  suffered 
severely  from  acute  asthma  and  bronchitis,  he 
did  well  at  school ;  and  the  pluck  which  carried 
him  through  the  moral  distresses  of  asthma 
helped  him  to  hold  his  own  in  games,  despite 
the  fact  that  up  to  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was 
considerably  under  the  average  height.  As  his 
health  did  not  cease  to  give  anxiety,  he  was 
taken  for  a  holiday  to  India  (being  with  his 
father  the  guest  of  the  Maharajah  Ranjitsinhji, 
Jam  Sahib  of  Nawanagar)  in  1909.  In  1913, 
for  the  same  reason,  he  made  a  trip  to  South 
Africa  with  his  sister.  It  was  his  health  again 
which  helped  to  decide  his  career.  An  open- 
air  life  was  considered  to  be  essential,  and  he 
became  a  student  at  the  South  Eastern  Agricul- 
tural College,  Wye,  remaining  there  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  war. 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

One  of  Harold's  greatest  chums  at  the  Agri- 
culture College  was  a  young  and  rich  German 
landowner  named  K .  At  the  latter's  in- 
vitation Harold  spent  the  summer  vacation  of 
1913  in  Germany,  and  the  two  young  men 
toured  on  motor-cycles  through  a  great  part 
of  Germany  and  Austria.  In  August  1914 

K was  to  celebrate  his  majority,  and  had 

asked  Harold  to  the  festivities.  But  on  August 
2nd,  when  war  appeared  inevitable,  he  wrote  a 
letter  of  farewell  to  Harold  in  which  he  said  that 
he  did  not  expect  they  would  ever  meet  again. 
The  next  day  he  telephoned  from  Charing  Cross 
as  he  was  leaving  England,  and  Harold  was  over- 
heard saying  to  him  on  the  telephone :  "  Well, 
if  we  meet,  mind  you  don't  shoot  straight." 

On  the  day  of  the  declaration  of  war,  Harold 
applied  for  a  commission  in  the  Royal  Naval 
Air  Service,  and  in  order  to  save  time  he  went 
immediately  as  a  civilian  pupil  to  Brooklands, 
where  several  months  previously  he  had  once 
been  taken  up  in  the  air  as  a  passenger.  In  the 
few  days  which  elapsed  before  the  War  Office 
commandeered  the  Brooklands  Aerodrome  and 
ejected  every  civilian  Harold  progressed  rap- 
idly in  the  craft  of  flying.  He  was  gazetted  a 
Probationary  Flight  Sub-Lieutenant  in  the  R.N. 
A.S.  on  August  i8th  and  reported  himself  at 
Hendon.  He  remained  there  about  six  weeks, 
obtaining  his  aviator's  certificate. 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

The  letters  which  form  this  book  were  writ- 
ten between  August  1914  and  February  1916. 
They  are  spontaneous  and  utterly  unstudied 
documents,  and  they  have  been  printed  almost 
exactly  as  Harold  wrote  them.  Many  of  them 
are  quite  ordinary;  most  are  spiced  with  slang; 
the  long  ones  describing  his  share  in  the  great 
historic  raids  are  thrillingly  dramatic.  But  it 
would  not  be  wise  to  set  some  letters  above 
others.  None  should  be  missed.  Each  con- 
tributes its  due  realistic  share  to  the  complete 
picture  of  an  airman's  life  in  war. 

It  is  well  that  we  should  have  every  oppor- 
tunity of  estimating  what  that  life  is.  For  the 
air  service  is  still  quite  a  new  service.  Its  birth 
lies  within  the  memory  of  schoolboys.  Few 
outsiders  can  imaginatively  conceive  for  them- 
selves the  conditions  of  it,  conditions  in  which 
the  hour  of  greatest  danger  is  precisely  the 
hour  of  spiritual  solitude  and  separation  from 
all  mankind.  Further,  the  air  service  is  now 
actually  engaged  in  creating  those  superb  prece- 
dents which  members  of  the  older  services 
find  ready  for  their  fortifying  and  encourage- 
ment when  the  crisis  comes,  and  this  fact  alone 
entitles  it  to  a  most  special  sympathetic  atten- 
tion from  the  laity.  So  far  as  my  knowledge 
goes,  no  other  such  picture,  so  full  and  so  con- 
vincing, of  the  air-fighters'  existence  has  yet 
been  offered  to  the  public.  Here,  perhaps,  I 

5 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

may  mention  that  some  organs  of  the  London 
Press  long  ago  desired  to  print  the  principal 
descriptive  letters  of  Harold  Kosher,  which  in 
private  had  aroused  the  admiration  of  journal- 
ists and  literary  men;  but  it  was  felt  that  com- 
plete publication  of  the  entire  series  within  the 
covers  of  a  volume  would  be  more  proper  and 
more  effective. 

Three  days  after  the  date  of  the  last  letter 
Harold  was  killed.  On  2yth  February,  Major 
Risk,  the  C.O.  of  the  Dover  Aeroplane  Station 
being  away  on  duty,  Harold,  as  second  in  com- 
mand, was  in  charge.  Among  other  duties  he 
had  to  train  new  pilots  on  fast  machines,  and  he 
would  always  personally  test  a  new  machine  or  a 
newly-repaired  machine  before  allowing  any- 
body else  to  try  it.  On  that  Sunday  morning  he 
ordered  a  number  of  machines  to  be  brought  out 
of  the  sheds  for  practice  flights.  Among  them 
was  one  which  had  just  been  repaired  after  a 
mishap  three  weeks  earlier.  The  pilot  had  al- 
ready got  into  his  machine.  Harold  told  him 
to  get  out  as  the  machine  was  untested,  and  him- 
self took  it  up  for  a  trial  flight  of  eight  or  ten 
minutes.  Everything  seemed  to  go  right  until 
Harold  began  the  descent  about  a  mile  away 
from  the  Aerodrome.  Then,  at  a  height  of  300 
feet  or  less,  the  machine  suddenly  made  a  nose- 
dive and  crashed  to  the  ground.  Harold  was 
killed  instantly.  The  disaster  occupied  seven 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

seconds.  At  the  inquest  nothing  was  ascer- 
tained as  to  the  cause  of  the  accident.  One 
theory  is  that  the  controls  jammed.  Harold 
was  buried  on  the  2nd  of  March  at  Charlton 
Cemetery,  with  full  naval  honours.  The  ceme- 
tery is  on  the  cliffs  within  sight  of  the  Aero- 
drome, and  while  his  body  was  being  lowered 
into  the  grave  aeroplanes  were  flying  overhead. 
It  is  permissible  to  quote  a  few  Service  opin- 
ions about  Harold  Rosher's  attainments  and 
achievements  during  his  short  career  as  an  air- 
man. Commodore  Murray  F.  Sueter,  C.B.,  R. 
N.,  wrote  to  Mr.  Frank  Rosher,  Harold's  fa- 
ther :  "  In  my  opinion  he  was  one  of  our  best 
pilots;  always  ready  for  any  service  he  was 
called  upon  to  perform.  Mr.  Winston  Church- 
ill was  very  pleased  with  his  work  in  the  early 
part  of  the  war,  and  had  he  been  spared  I  am 
sure  he  would  have  made  a  great  name  for  him- 
self." Wing  Commander  Arthur  N.  Long- 
more,  R.N.,  under  whom  Harold  had  served 
longest,  wrote :  "  You  have  the  consolation  of 
knowing  his  splendid  record  at  Dunkirk.  He 
was  among  the  finest  pilots  I  ever  had  out  there, 
always  cheerful  and  ready  for  his  work.  He 
will  be  a  great  loss  to  the  Air  Service,  which 
loses  not  only  a  first-class  pilot,  but  also  an  ex- 
cellent officer."  Major  Charles  E.  Risk, 
Squadron  Commander,  R.  N.,  wrote:  "Har- 
old, or  Rosh  as  we  always  used  to  call  him,  was 

7 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

one  of  my  very  best  pals  and  a  very  fine  officer 
and  First  Lieutenant.  Every  one  loved  him. 
He  was  an  absolute  *  Sahib,'  a  very  good  pilot, 
hard-working,  and  absolutely  trustworthy." 
And  Captain  Charles  L.  Lamb,  R.N.,  wrote: 
"He  returned  with  some  of  the  others  from 
abroad  last  autumn  for  a  rest,  and  very  shortly 
afterwards  I  selected  him  from  a  large  number 
of  officers  to  become  the  Executive  Officer  of  the 
Dover  Air  Station,  which  was  then  starting. 
Although  quite  young,  he  immediately  displayed 
great  organising  abilities,  and  also  possessed  the 
gift  of  command  of  men,  which  is  unusual  with- 
out previous  training,  and  fully  justified  my  se- 
lection. At  his  own  request  he  was  shortly 
proceeding  abroad  in  command  of  a  Flight,  and 
would  undoubtedly  have  gained  his  promotion  in 
the  near  future.  I  have  said  little  as  regards 
his  skill  as  a  pilot,  since  this  was  probably  well 
known  to  you,  but  he  was  undoubtedly  in  the 
first  flight.  This  skill,  however,  I  consider  of 
secondary  importance  in  life  as  compared  with 
the  far  rarer  gifts  of  command  and  organisa- 
tion which  he  undoubtedly  possessed." 

I  had  the  acquaintance  of  Harold  Kosher, 
and  when  I  met  him  I  was  quite  extraordinarily 
impressed  by  his  bearing  and  his  speech.  In 
age  and  appearance  he  was  a  mere  boy  —  a 
handsome  boy,  too,  in  my  opinion  —  but  the 
gestures  of  youth  were  restrained.  He  was 

8 


INTRODUCTION 

very  modest,  but  he  was  not  diffident.  In  the 
presence  of  men  older  than  his  father  he  upheld 
in  the  most  charming  and  effective  way  the  dig- 
nity of  his  own  generation.  He  talked  quietly, 
but  nobody  could  escape  the  conviction  that  he 
knew  just  what  he  was  talking  about.  All  his 
statements  were  cautious,  and  in  giving  a  de- 
scription or  an  opinion  he  seemed  to  dread  su- 
perlatives. He  had  the  eye  and  the  voice  of 
one  who  feared  no  responsibility,  and  who,  hav- 
ing ruled  himself,  was  thoroughly  equal  to  rul- 
ing others.  He  was  twenty-two  when  he  died  at 
work. 

A.B. 


I 

TRAINING 


To  his  Father 

The  Blue  Bird,  Brooklands  Aerodrome, 

Weybridge. 
nth  August,  1914. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Am  getting  on  famously  and  having  a 
most  amusing  time.  After  I  wrote  you  yester- 
day I  went  out  and  had  my  first  lesson.  Mr. 
Stutt,  our  instructor  [for  the  British  and  Co- 
lonial Aeroplane  Co.],  sits  immediately  behind 
you,  controls  the  engine  switch  and  covers  your 
hand  on  the  stick.  He  took  me  straight  up  two 
or  three  hundred  feet  and  then  volplaned  down. 
He  always  does  this  with  new  pupils  to  see  how 
they  take  it.  I  think  I  managed  to  pass  the 
ordeal  all  right.  I  had  two  or  three  flights 
backwards  and  forwards,  and  then  another  turn 
later  on  in  the  evening.  Stutt  is  an  awfully 
nice  fellow,  very  small  but  very  capable.  On 
all  sides  one  hears  him  recommended.  When 
in  the  air,  he  bawls  in  your  ear,  "  Now  when 

13 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

you  push  your  hand  forward,  you  go  down, 
see!  "  (and  he  pushes  your  hand  forward  and 
you  make  a  sudden  dive),  "  and  when  you  pull 
it  back  you  go  up,  and  when  you  do  this,  so 
and  so  happens,"  and  so  with  everything  he 
demonstrates.  Then  he  says,  "  If  you  do  so 
and  so,  you  will  break  your  neck,  and  if  you 
try  to  climb  too  quickly  you  will  make  a  tail 
slide."  It's  awfully  hard  work  at  first  and 
makes  your  arm  ache  like  fun.  The  school 
machines  are  very  similar  to  the  Grahame- 
Whites.  You  sit  right  in  front,  with  a  clean 
drop  below  you.  We  never  strap  ourselves  in. 
The  machines  are  the  safest  known,  and  never 
make  a  clean  drop  if  control  is  lost,  but  slide 
down  sideways. 

When  it  got  too  dark  we  went  in  and  had 
dinner,  all  sitting  at  the  middle  table.  Could 
get  no  one  to  fetch  my  luggage,  so  decided  to 
go  myself  after  dinner.  Unfortunately,  I  at- 
tempted a  short  cut  in  the  dark  and  lost  my 
way.  After  stumbling  round  the  beastly  aero- 
drome in  the  dark  for  an  hour,  I  eventually 
got  back  to  my  starting  point.  I  was  drenched 
to  the  knees,  and  the  moon  didn't  help  me 
much  on  account  of  the  thick  mist.  It  was 
about  10.30  P.  M.,  so  I  gave  up  my  quest;  the 
prospect  of  the  long  walk  and  heavy  bag  was 
too  discouraging. 

I  turned  in  in  my  vest  and  pants  and  had  a 


Photo:  F.  N.Birkett 


THE   LATE    FLIGHT-LIEUT.    RIGGALL 

On  one  of  the  Grahame -White  school  "  box-kites,"  in  the  early  days  of  his  training 


TRAINING 

good  night.  Was  knocked  up  at  4.30  this 
morning  and  crawled  gingerly  into  my  still  wet 
clothes.  A  lovely  morning,  very  cold,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  I  got  wetter  still,  as  the 
grass  was  sopping.  Had  two  more  lessons 
this  morning,  of  about  15  minutes  each,  and 
took  both  right  and  left  hand  turns,  part  of  the 
time  steering  by  myself.  Stutt  says  I  am 
getting  on.  The  machines  are  so  stable  that 
they  will  often  fly  quite  a  long  way  by  them- 
selves. Am  now  quite  smitten,  and  if  weather 
continues  fine,  I  shall  take  my  ticket  in  a  week 
or  ten  days.  Hope  to  be  flying  solo  by 
Thursday  or  Friday.  Experienced  my  first 
bump  this  morning.  While  flying  at  200  feet, 
the  machine  suddenly  bumped,*  a  unique  sensa- 
tion. These  bumps  are  due  to  the  sun's  action 
on  the  air  and  are  called  "  sun  bumps."  It's 
owing  to  these  that  we  novices  are  not  allowed 
to  fly  during  the  day.  To  experienced  airmen 
they  offer  no  difficulty. 

There  was  a  slight  accident  here  this  morn- 
ing. One  of  the  Bleriot  people  (known  in  our 
select  circle  as  Blerites)  was  taxying  [running 
along  the  ground]  in  a  machine  without  wings. 
He  got  too  much  speed  on,  and  the  machine 
went  head  over  heels  and  was  utterly  wrecked  — 
man  unhurt.  With  the  Bleriot  machine  you 
first  have  to  learn  to  steer  on  the  ground,  as 

*  Met  an  air-wave. 
15 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

it's  much  harder  than  ours.  The  men  look 
awful  fools  going  round  and  round  in  wee 
circles.  .  .  . 

Very  nice  lot  of  fellow  pupils  here  that  I  am 
getting  to  know,  one  naval  man  with  a  whole 
stock  of  funny  yarns.  Nothing  to  do  all  day 
long  but  sleep.  Went  into  Weybridge  this 
morning  and  got  my  suit  case.  Flora  and 
fauna  quite  interesting.  I  live  only  for  the 
mornings  and  evenings.  More  anon.  Love 
to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


II 

To  his  Father 

The  Hendon  Aerodrome,  Hendon. 

yth  September,  1914. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Only  a  few  lines,  as  it  is  already  late, 
and  I  still  have  plenty  to  do.  The  latest 
excitement  down  here  is  a  balloon,  especially 
for  our  use.  It  is  to  be  up  all  night,  and  we 
have  to  take  turns  in  keeping  watch  from  it; 
four  hour  shifts,  starting  to-morrow  night. 
16 


TRAINING 

She  has  4,000  feet  of  wire  cable,  but  I  don't  sup- 
pose we  shall  be  up  more  than  1,500  feet.  It 
will  be  frightfully  cold  work,  and  in  all  proba- 
bility we  shall  all  be  sea-sick. 

On  Saturday  night  we  had  a  Zeppelin  scare 
from  the  Admiralty.  I  was  on  duty  and  called 
out  the  marines,  etc.,  etc.  Ammunition  was 
served  round  and  the  machines  brought  out. 
Porte  [J.  C.  Porte,  Wing  Commander,  R.N.] 
went  up  for  a  short  time. 

Tons  of  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


Ill 

To  his  Grandmother 

The  Hendon  Aerodrome,  Hendon. 

7th  September,  1914. 

DEAREST  GRANNY, 

Can  only  send  you  a  few  lines  just  now 
as  I  am  so  frightfully  busy.  Thanks  so  much 
for  your  letter  received  two  days  back.  Am 
hard  at  it  now  from  4.30  A.M.  to  n.o  P.M., 
and  one  day  in  five  for  24  hours  on  end.  Our 
latest  acquaintance  is  a  captive  balloon  in  which 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

we  are  to  take  turns  to  keep  watch  in  the  night. 
It  will  be  terribly  cold  work.  The  watches  are 
4  hours  each,  and  we  shall  probably  be  about 
1,500  feet  up  in  the  air  —  the  full  limit  of  cable 
is  4,000  feet.  I  quite  expect  we  shall  all  be 
horribly  sea-sick,  as  the  motion  is  quite  different 
from  that  in  an  aeroplane.  There  is  also  a 
rumour  that  we  are  going  to  have  an  airship 
down  here.  We  had  a  Zeppelin  scare  the  other 
night  and  had  all  the  marines  out,  ammunition 
served  round,  searchlights  manned,  and  aero- 
planes brought  out  in  readiness.  It  was  quite 
exciting  for  a  false  alarm. 

It's  pretty  chilly  work  sleeping  in  tents  now. 
Unless  you  cover  your  clothes  up  over-night, 
they  are  sopping  wet  in  the  morning.  Also 
there  is  a  plague  of  crane  flies  here,  which 
simply  swarm  all  over  one's  tent.  These  are 
all  little  troubles,  however,  which  one  takes 
philosophically,  and  at  the  same  time  tries  to 
picture  mentally  the  distress  of  those  at  the 
front.  Hope  I  shall  be  out  there  soon;  they 
seem  to  be  having  quite  good  fun. 

Must  cut  short  now,  so  good-bye,  Granny 
dear.  Heaps  of  love. 

Ever  your  loving  grandson, 

HAROLD. 


1 8 


TRAINING 

IV 

To  his  Father 

The  Hendon  Aerodrome,  Hendon. 
nth  September,  1914 

DEAR  DAD, 

Many  happy  returns.  I  started  writing 
you  last  night,  so  that  you  might  get  my  letter 
first  thing  this  morning,  but  was  fated  not  to 
finish  it. 

We  had  another  false  alarm  and  my  place 
was  on  the  'phones.  I  didn't  get  off  until 
12.30  A.M.,  so  gave  it  up  as  a  bad  job  and 
started  afresh  this  morning. 

I  expect  you  will  have  seen  in  the  papers 

about  the  accident  last  night.     Lieut.  G 

went  up  in  the  Henri  Farman,  and  on  coming 
down  made  a  bad  landing  —  internal  injuries  — 
machine  absolutely  piled  up.  Nacelle  *  tele- 
scoped and  the  tail  somehow  right  in  front  of 
the  nacelle.  The  accident  is  expected  to  have 
rather  a  bad  effect  on  the  morale  of  the  pupils. 
Personally  it  doesn't  affect  me;  and  anyhow  I 

didn't  see  G at  all,  as  I  was  bound  to  the 

'phones. 

*  The  nacelle  is  the  short  body  of  an  aeroplane,  as  found 
in  all  machines  with  propeller  behind  (usually  called 
"  pusher  "  machines) . 

19 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

Things  are  going  on  much  better  with  me. 
Yesterday  I  did  five  straights  [straight  flights] 
alone  and  managed  quite  well,  having  excellent 
control  of  the  machine,  and  making  good  land- 
ings, except  for  the  first  straights  in  the  morn- 
ing, when  it  was  rather  windy  and  in  conse- 
quence the  machine  was  all  over  the  place. 

By  the  way,  this  is  now  the  third  successive 
night  that  we  have  had  an  alarm.  Have  not 
yet  been  up  in  the  balloon  but  am  looking 
forward  to  it.  I  never  thought  that  we  should 
come  down  to  an  old  ( 1902)  gas  bag. 

Heaps  of  love  and  don't  let  Mummie  get 
alarmed.     You  must  bear  in  mind  that  night 
flying  is  ten  times  more  dangerous  than  day. 
Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


20 


NOTE 

An  interesting  letter,  written  in  September,  is 
missing.  In  this  the  writer  described  a  balloon 
trip  that  he  made  over  London  in  the  dark,  ulti- 
mately coming  down  near  Ashford,  and  having 
an  exciting  experience  while  landing. 

Early  in  October,  1914,  the  aviator  went 
from  Hendon  to  the  Royal  Naval  Air  Station, 
Fort  Grange,  Gosport.  A  letter  of  this  date  is 
also  missing.  It  described  his  first  cross-country 
flight,  when,  owing  to  engine  failure,  he  had  to 
make  three  forced  landings  (from  heights  of 
about  4,000  feet),  all  of  which  he  managed 
safely  without  damaging  his  machine.  The  en- 
gine was  afterwards  found  to  be  faulty.  In  this 
letter  he  referred  to  the  Commanding  Officer's 
pleasure  that  he  had  made  so  good  a  beginning. 


21 


II 

ON  HOME  SERVICE 


To  his  Father 

Royal  Naval  Air  Station, 
Fort  Grange,  Gosport. 
i4th  November,  1914. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Many  thanks  for  note  received  this 
morning.  Shall  try  to  get  home  for  inoculation 
in  about  a  fortnight.  From  what  I  can  make 
out,  we  shall  not  get  our  squadron  together 
until  the  end  of  January.  We  were  to  have 
gone  over  at  the  end  of  this  month.  We  may, 
however,  go  over  in  pieces,  a  flight  at  a  time. 
If  the  Germans  reach  Calais,  we  shall  stay  here 
permanently  for  home  defence,  but  at  the  rate 
we  are  progressing,  we  shan't  be  ready  until 
March,  and  then,  maybe,  the  war  will  be  over. 
I  must  say  I  want  to  see  some  of  it,  and  one 
would  be  bound  to  get  a  second  stripe  if  one 
went  across. 

1 5th  November,  1914. 

Have  spent  quite  a  successful  first  day  over 
at  Whale  Island :  —  squad  drill,  Morriss  tube 

25 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

and  Webley  Scott  firing  practice.  I  got  on 
famously.  The  Morriss  tube  is  particularly 
easy.  It  merely  becomes  a  matter  of  getting 
all  on  the  bull.  It's  a  grand  place  to  wake  one 
up ;  everything  is  done  at  the  double. 

My  cold  is  awfully  heavy  and  I'm  feeling 
pretty  rotten. 

Best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


VI 

To  his  Father 

The  Queen's  Hotel,   Farnborough,   Hants. 
i8th  November,  1914. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Thanks  so  much  for  your  birthday  letter 
[his  2 ist  birthday],  which  I  had  just  time 
hurriedly  to  read  through  this  morning.  Late 
last  night  we  had  orders  to  shift,  and  everything 
has  been  a  rush  ever  since.  I  have  left  all  my 
luggage  at  Fort  Grange  and  have  only  a  small 
despatch  case  with  me.  Am  very  disappointed. 
As  the  C.O.'s  machine  was  not  ready  to  go,  he 

26 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

collared  mine,  and  I  am  travelling  as  passenger. 
However,  it  can't  be  helped. 

We  left  Fort  Grange  about  ten  this  morning 
and  arrived  here  after  an  hour's  run.  It  was 
awfully  cold  and  we  had  to. come  down  here 
owing  to  fog.  I  am  afraid  I  can't  tell  you 
where  we  are  going  or  any  other  such  details. 
You  must  rest  content  with  what  I  have  told 
you  at  present.  We  are  very  comfortably  fixed 
up  here  for  the  night.  The  place  is  packed 
with  generals  and  staff  officers,  as  we  are 
practically  in  Aldershot.  It  will  be  very  slow 
here  this  evening.  I  thought  of  trying  to 
get  home  for  the  night,  but  it's  out  of  the 
question.  There  is  no  need  to  be  in  the  least 
alarmed  as  to  my  safety,  as  I  am  probably  not 
going  where  you  expect. 

Tons  of  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


27 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

VII 

To  his  Father 

Royal  Naval  Air  Station,  Kenton  Lodge, 
Gosforth,    Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
2$th  November,  1914. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Received  letters  forwarded  from  Fort 
Grange  last  night.  It  was  much  too  foggy  for 
my  trip  to  Hartlepool  yesterday  afternoon,  but 
I  went  for  a  short  flip  [flight]  around,  and  am 
glad  I  did  so,  as  I  found  out  the  lie  of  the 
land. 

This  morning  it  was  beautifully  clear,  and  I 
started  off  soon  after  9.0  A.  M.,  with  a  mechanic, 
to  patrol  the  coast  up  north  to  Alnmouth.  It 
was  awfully  cold  with  rather  a  strong  cross 
wind.  I  got  right  above  one  lot  of  clouds. 
It's  a  wonderful  sight  too,  as  in  the  distance 
there  is  a  mountain  covered  with  snow.  It 
was  simply  ripping.  My  engine  was  going 
strong,  and  after  circling- round  till  I  was  1,500 
feet  up,  I  made  straight  off  for  the  coast.  It 
was  magnificent.  Anything  I  wanted  to  look 
at  closely  I  just  did  graceful  spirals  around,  or 
zigzagged,  banking  the  machine  up  to  right 
and  left.  I  have  never  enjoyed  a  trip  so  much 
before.  I  was  away  an  hour  and  twenty 
28 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

minutes;  quite  long  enough,  as  I  could  hardly 
feel  my  hands  or  feet  on  coming  down.  I 
think  we  shall  be  here  another  fortnight,  with 
luck. 


30th  November,  1914. 

Have  had  no  time  to  write  at  all  these  last 
few  days.     Half  my  birthday  letters  are  still 
unanswered.  .  .  .  Weather  has  been  far  too 
bad  for  flying  the  past  two  days. 
Best  love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


VIII 

To  his  Aunt 

Royal  Naval  Air  Station,  Kenton  Lodge, 

Gosforth,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
27th  November,  1914. 

DEAR  AUNT  ETHEL, 

Thanks  so  much  for  your  birthday 
letter.  I  only  received  it  the  night  before  last 
and  have  been  unable  to  answer  it  until  now. 

You  are  right  about  flying.     As  soon  as  one 
gets  well  into  the  air,  things  seem  to  take  on 
29 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

quite  a  different  aspect.  It  is  the  same  as 
when  one  gets  on  a  high  hill,  only  in  a  greater 
degree. 

Our  work  of  patrolling  the  coast  is  very 
interesting,  but  unfortunately  Newcastle  seems 
to  be  either  enveloped  in  a  thick  fog,  or  a  gale 
of  wind  prevails,  so  that  we  are  not  getting 
as  much  flying  as  I  should  like.  It  is  beginning 
to  get  extremely  cold  work  too  now,  especially 
on  a  frosty  morning. 

Our  billet  here  happens  to  be  the  German 
Consulate,  a  lovely  modern  house,  so  that  we 
are  most  comfortably  settled.  I  think  we  are 
moving  again  in  a  fortnight's  time. 

Please  give  Granny  my  best  love.  As  soon 
as  I  can  get  home  I  shall  pop  over  and  look 
you  all  up.  At  present  I  see  no  chance  of 
getting  off.  I  tried  to  get  to  Hartlepool  this 
morning,  but  the  weather  was  too  bad  so  I 
abandoned  the  attempt. 

Heaps  of  love. 

Ever  your  loving  nephew, 

HAROLD. 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

IX 
To  his  Father 

No.  i  Naval  Aeroplane  Squadron, 
Kenton  Lodge,  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
8th  December,  1914. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Have  had  a  great  day.  Motored  out 
to  Redcar  on  business  and  visited  Durham 
Cathedral  on  the  return  journey.  It's  a  magni- 
ficent spot.  The  Cathedral  is  on  top  of  a  high 
hill  with  the  river  flowing  through  a  ravine  on 
one  side  and  two  fine  old  bridges.  It's  one  of 
the  finest  sights  in  England.  The  town  itself, 
too,  is  very  quaint.  Have  heard  no  more  about 
going  to  the  front.  .  .  . 

ioth  December,  1914.* 

The  C.O.  is  now  in  France,  and  from  what 
I  can  gather  is  making  preparations  for  us  all 
to  go  out  immediately  after  Christmas.  I  don't 
think  there  is  much  chance  of  being  able  to 
get  home  for  Christmas.  However,  one  can 
never  tell,  so  we  will  hope  for  the  best. 

I  went  for  a  flip  around  yesterday  afternoon 
for  ten  minutes,  but  it  was  far  too  thick  to  see 
anything,  so  came  down.  Best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

*  About  this  time  Lieut.  Rosher  returned  to  Fort  Grange. 
31 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 


To  his  Mother 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
3oth  December,  1914. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Another  sudden  move.  Monday  night 
some  of  us  received  orders  to  shift  here  the 
following  morning.  I  got  all  my  gear  packed 
and  off  in  the  transport  first  thing,  and  kept 
my  little  hand-bag  in  the  machine.  Two  went 
off  before  me,  as  I  burst  a  tyre  to  begin  with — 
rather  a  bad  start.  In  my  second  attempt  I  got 
well  off,  but  found  my  air-speed  indicator  was 
not  working  and  my  compass  dud,  so  came 
down  again.  As  I  could  procure  no  more,  I 
decided  to  start.  I  nearly  upset  getting  off,  as 
my  foot  slipped  on  the  rudder  and  I  got  a 
bump  at  the  same  moment.  The  engine  was 
going  none  too  well,  but  I  pushed  off  towards 
the  coast,  and  all  went  well  for  a  time.  Then 
came  signs  of  engine  trouble.  The  revs,  [revo- 
lutions] dropped  suddenly  to  below  1,000,  and 
she  missed  badly  and  back  fired.  I  at  once  shut 
off  petrol  and  volplaned  down  from  4,000  feet. 
I  glided  two  miles  before  I  could  find  a  field  to 
satisfy  me,  but  having  picked  it,  made  a  good 
landing.  Some  farm  hands  and  two  special 
32 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

constables  soon  turned  up  and  informed  me 
that  I  was  miles  from  anywhere.  My  exact 
position  was  between  two  small  villages,  Ripe 
and  Chalvington,  and  four  fields  away  from  a 
road  (and  that  not  a  main  one).  The  nearest 
town  of  any  size  was  Lewes,  a  matter  of  seven 
miles  —  no  motor  vehicles,  but  I  might  possibly 
get  a  trap. 

Just  then  a  fellow  turned  up,  and  said  he 
had  a  motor  bike  and  side  car,  which  he  put  at 
my  disposal.  This  I  accepted,  and,  after  trying 
the  engine,  left  the  two  special  constables  in 
charge,  and  tramped  across  the  four  swamped 
fields  (up  to  my  neck  in  mud)  to  the  road, 
and  went  to  Lewes  in  the  side  car.  There  I 
found  a  big  garage,  where  they  professed  to 
know  something  about  Gnome  engines.  (I  had 
landed,  by  the  way,  at  about  12  noon.)  I  got 
them  to  put  some  tools  on  a  car,  and  out  we 
went  again  to  Ripe.  Then  followed  much 
tinkering,  and  I  got  the  engine  going  and 
started  off.  I  had  circled  round  once,  when 
the  engine  again  back  fired,  bang!  bang!  and 
I  made  another  hurried  descent  two  fields  away 
from  the  last.  All  this  time,  of  course,  quite 
a  crowd  had  collected,  and  the  vicar  of  Chal- 
vington had  come  up  and  had  brought  me  some 
sandwiches,  for  which  I  was  very  grateful,  it 
being  3.0  P.  M.,  and  I  had  only  a  hurried  break- 
fast. 

33 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

We  next  ran  the  engine  again,  and  she  at 
once  back  fired  and  caught  fire  at  the  car- 
burettor. This  burnt  out  without  doing  any 
damage,  and  we  diagnosed  the  complaint  as  a 
broken  inlet  valve-spring  in  No.  5  cylinder. 
By  the  way,  when  in  Lewes  I  had  'phoned 
through  to  Fort  Grange,  and  they  sent  me  on 
some  mechanics,  as  the  garage  men  could  help 
me  no  more. 

I  once  more  left  the  special  constables  in 
charge  and  returned  to  Lewes.  (The  vicar,  I 
should  have  told  you,  offered  me  a  bed  for  the 
night.)  I  again  'phoned  from  Lewes  [to  Fort 
Grange]  and  then  returned  to  the  machine, 
which  I  had  moved  behind  a  hedge  out  of  the 
wind,  and  had  pegged  and  roped  down  and 
covered  up. 

By  this  time  it  was  5.30  and  dark  and  very 
cold,  and  I  was  greatly  cheered  by  five  me- 
chanics and  a  driver  turning  up.  Two  I  left 
in  charge  of  the  machine,  and  then  drove  round 
in  our  service  car  (in  which  the  mechanics  had 
arrived)  to  the  vicarage,  where  I  had  a  belated 
tea  and  a  hearty  welcome.  Mrs.  McElroy  is 
delightful.  Dinner  followed  almost  immedi- 
ately, and  very  excellent  at  that.  At  8.0  P.M. 
my  car  arrived  for  me,  the  mechanics  having 
found  a  satisfactory  billet.  I  once  more  set 
out  for  Lewes  and  rattled  out  the  colonel  of 
the  territorials,  and  requested  a  corporal  and 
34 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

three  men  to  guard  my  machine,  as  my  men 
had  been  working  the  whole  of  the  previous 
night. 

This  all  took  some  time,  so  I  sat  down  and 
chatted  with  the  other  members  of  the  staff, 
and  had  a  drink  and  smoke,  and  also  two  trunk 
calls,  one  to  Dover  and  the  other  to  Fort 
Grange,  where  I  heard  that  Riggall  *  had  also 
come  down  with  engine  trouble  at  Hastings, 
30  miles  further  on.  This  cheered  me  con- 
siderably. I  didn't  get  away  from  Lewes  till 
10.0  P.  M.  At  Ripe  I  posted  my  territorials 
and  gave  them  their  orders.  It  was  fortunately 
a  lovely  moonlight  night,  freezing  hard,  and 
with  no  wind.  I  got  back  to  the  vicarage  at 
11.30  P.  M.  and  retired  at  midnight  —  a  lovely 
hot  bath  and  beautifully  soft  bed,  with  a  fire  in 
my  room ! 

I  turned  out  next  morning  at  daylight  and 
drove  out  to  the  machine,  which  is  an  80  Avro,f 
brand  new  (never  been  flown  before,  not  even 
been  tested),  and  found  my  men  at  work  as 
per  instructions.  I  returned  for  breakfast  (the 
vicarage  was  a  good  two  miles  away) ,  and  then 
rushed  back  to  my  machine  and  found  that  a 

*  Gordon  Riggall.  He  and  the  writer  both  received  their 
commissions  on  the  i8th  August,  1914,  and  from  that  day 
onwards  served  together,  sharing  the  same  risks.  He  was 
killed  on  the  i6th  February,  1915. 

f  Manufactured  by  A.  V.  Roe  &  Co.,  Ltd. 

35 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

C.P.O.  [Chief  Petty  Officer]  had  turned  up 
from  Gosport  in  another  car,  on  his  way  to 
Riggall  at  Hastings,  with  a  whole  new  engine. 
I  at  once  hot-stuffed  [requisitioned]  one  of  his 
inlet  valves  and  set  the  men  to  work  changing 
it,  while  I  once  more  went  into  Lewes,  looked 
up  the  colonel  and  used  his  'phone. 

On  getting  back  at  12.30  I  found  my  machine 
all  ready,  so  went  on  to  the  vicarage,  packed  up 
my  things,  had  a  slice  of  cake,  bade  them  all 
farewell,  and  pushed  off.  The  wind  had  got 
up  considerably  and  the  clouds  were  very  low, 
but  I  thought  I  would  try  and  get  off.  I 
started  up  and  got  well  away.  It  was  awfully 
bumpy,  and  I  got  tossed  about  all  over  the 
place.  When  I  got  to  1,000  feet  it  was  much 
steadier,  so  I  headed  straight  for  the  coast,  and 
as  I  climbed,  I  started  getting  into  the  clouds. 
The  first  were  at  1,500  feet,  and  I  kept  on 
running  through  them  till  over  2,500  feet.  The 
wind  was  stronger  than  I  had  thought,  and  I 
fairly  raced  along.  The  engine  was  still  a  bit 
funny,  but  I  stuck  to  it,  and  was  past  Dunge- 
ness  in  no  time.  Then  I  got  right  above  a 
whole  sea  of  clouds,  and  only  got  occasional 
glimpses  of  Mother  Earth  now  and  again 
between  gaps.  I  didn't  like  this,  as  I  couldn't 
see  where  I  was  going,  especially  as  my  compass 
was  not  accurate,  and  if  I  started  flying  below 
them,  I  should  only  be  a  thousand  feet  up. 

36 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

This  would  have  been  worse,  as  I  was  not  sure 
of  my  engine,  and  if  it  had  given  out  I  should 
have  had  to  land  within  a  mile  in  any  direction, 
as  against  a  four-mile  radius  if  I  were  4,000  feet 
up. 

While  thinking  over  all  this,  I  passed  another 
gap,  and  looking  back,  caught  a  glimpse  of 
Dover  harbour.  It  was  rather  lucky,  as  I  had 
overshot  the  mark.  I  switched  on  and  off,  and 
dived  down  through  the  opening  to  1,000  feet, 
and  then  looked  around  for  the  aerodrome.  I 
did  quite  a  wide  circle  before  I  spotted  it.  It 
was  awfully  bumpy  and  pretty  nearly  a  gale 
blowing.  I  was  just  going  to  land  when  I  saw 
two  red  flags  ahead  to  mark  bad  ground,  and 
then  a  lot  more.  Nearly  all  the  ground  was 
bad,  so  I  flew  right  over  into  the  wind  and 
turned  to  the  right  just  before  the  cliff  out  of 
the  wind.  All  this  time  I  was  bobbing  about 
like  a  cork,  gusts  throwing  me  all  over  the 
place.  I  got  half  round  my  turn,  broadside 
into  the  wind  at  about  100  feet,  when  a  huge 
gust  got  underneath  my  left  wing  and  tail  and 
swept  me  right  across  the  aerodrome  to  the 
ground.  It  was  all  a  matter  of  seconds  till  I 
hit  the  ground.  My  aileron,  or  warp  control, 
was  useless  (at  the  time  I  thought  the  wires  had 
broken).  I  just  managed  to  flatten  out  and 
straighten  up  a  little  as  I  hit  the  ground  side- 
ways. Both  wheels  buckled  right  up  and 

37 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

brought  me  to  a  standstill,  myself  quite  un- 
harmed, and  the  machine  with  wonderfully  little 
damage.  I  was  awfully  annoyed,  as  I  was  very 
keen  on  pitching  well  at  the  end  of  my  journey. 

ist  January,  1915. 

The  last  two  days  have  been  beastly,  nothing 
but  wind  and  rain.  Riggall  is  still  held  up  at 
Hastings.  I  shouldn't  be  surprised  if  his 
machine  has  blown  away  by  now.  I  see  in  this 
morning's  paper  that  I  have  shipped  another 
stripe  [Flight  Lieutenant],  so  things  are  looking 
up  a  bit. 

There  was  a  huge  din  here  to  usher  in  the 
New  Year  —  bells,  whistles,  and  all  the  ships  in 
the  harbour  blowing  their  sirens  for  fully  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  on  end.  The  feeding  here 
is  excellent, .  and  we  have  music  to  accompany 
tea  and  dinner.  There  are  between  three  and 
four  hundred  rooms,  and  all  full  up.  We  have 
to  take  turns  in  sleeping  up  at  the  sheds  two 
miles  away  (my  turn  to-night,  ugh!).  We 
leave  here  at  7.45  P.  M.,  and  are  relieved  at  9.0 
the  next  morning.  This  means  10  o'clock 
breakfast  by  the  time  one  has  got  back  here 
and  had  a  bath  and  a  shave. 

loth  January,  1915. 

What  a  life  we  lead  and  how  we  suffer !  It 
is  now  half  past  six  and  I  have  just  had  tea. 

38 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

My  previous  meal  was  a  scrappy  breakfast  at 
8.30.  Dover  is  the  very  devil  of  a  place  to 
fly  over.  It's  very  hilly,  and  so  of  course  one 
gets  the  most  appalling  bumps  and,  in  addition, 
a  very  poor  selection  of  landing  grounds  in  case 
of  engine  trouble.  The  aerodrome  is  right  on 
top  of  the  cliffs,  and  on  two  sides  we  have  a 
beastly  drop.  If  one's  engine  fails  when  getting 
off  in  these  directions,  the  best  thing  one  can 
do  is  to  pray,  and  hope  the  bump  won't  be  too 
big  when  it  comes. 

I  was  nearly  caught  this  way  to-day. 
Yesterday  I  flew  an  Avro  to  Deal  and  back, 
while  my  passenger  made  some  wireless 
experiments.  To-day  I  patrolled  the  South 
Foreland  for  an  hour  and  a  half  (9.0  to  10.30) , 
my  passenger  armed  to  the  teeth.  Beastly  cold 
it  was  too.  At  one  o'clock  I  got  a  panicky 
message  saying  14  hostile  aircraft  were  coming 
over  from  Dunkirk,  and  I  was  ordered  up  at 
once.  I  had  just  got  nicely  over  the  valley 
when  my  engine  went  bang!  bang!  bangj  I 
hastily  turned  off  my  petrol  and  looked  around 
for  a  place  to  pitch.  The  only  field  reachable 
was  a  very  bad  one.  In  addition,  I  pitched 
badly,  but  broke  nothing,  and  luckily  came  to 
a  standstill  a  few  yards  from  a  pond!  The 
trouble  was  an  inlet  valve  gone,  the  same  as 
happened  at  Lewes,  resulting  in  back  firing 
into  the  carburettor,  which  catches  fire — -most 
39 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

unpleasant  I  get  awfully  cold  feet.  I  would 
much  sooner  come  down  with  a  bump  than  be 
cremated.  Personally  I  think  it's  worse  than 
the  crank  shaft  breaking,  and  that  puts  the  fear 
of  God  into  you,  I  can  tell  you.  My  machine 
is  out  in  the  open  to-night.  I  hope  to  see  it 
up  and  get  back  to-morrow.  I  did  a  fine 
spiral  [spiral  descent  with  the  engine  shut  off] 
to-day. 

The  hostile  aircraft  never  came,  of  course. 
We  are  always  hearing  of  Zeppelins  dropping 
bombs  on  Birmingham,  London,  etc.  All  the 
same,  they  are  coming,  I  am  sure,  and  in  a 
bunch  too. 

It's  just  dinner-time  and  I'm  awfully 
hungry,  so  love  to  all.  Could  see  France  as 
plain  as  Punch  to-day.  Dunkirk  is  visible 
from  5,000  feet. 


nth  January,  1915. 

Another  day  of  toil,  but  no  flying.  It's  my 
turn  to  sleep  up  at  the  sheds  too,  a  joy  I  am 
not  looking  forward  to. 

I  wish  we  could  get  out  to  the  front.  It's 
rotten  to  keep  on  seeing  army  machines  going 
across.  I  would  much  rather  come  to  a  sticky 
end  out  there  than  here. 


40 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

23rd  January,  1915. 

I  am  once  again  installed  in  the  sheds  for 
the  night,  and  beastly  cold  it  is  too.  I  am 
going  to  invest  in  a  Jaeger  flea  bag  [sleeping 
bag]. 

To-day  has  been  the  best  day  we  have  had 
so  far,  clear,  frosty  and  dead  calm.  I  crashed 
into  the  atmosphere  first  thing  this  morning  and 
flipped  around  for  55  minutes.  By  then  I  was 

as  cold  as ,  so  pitched  in  the  'drome.     I 

flew  from  Dover  to  Deal  with  both  hands  off 
the  controls,  just  correcting  with  a  finger  when 
necessary.  I  have  elastic  bands  on  the  stick 
which  hold  it  where  it  is  set.  I  ended  up  with 
a  hair-splitting  spiral,  with  the  machine  banked 
up  to  about  55°.  I  only  did  three  or  four 
complete  turns,  but  kept  on  until  I  was  scared 
stiff.  When  you  bank  a  machine  over  45°, 
your  rudder  turns  into  your  elevator  and  vice 
versa.  To  come  out  of  a  spiral,  you  just  shove 
everything  the  wrong  way  round  and  wait  and 
see  what  happens. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XI 

\To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
20th  January, 


DEAR  DAD, 

So  you  are  home  again  at  last.  Did  you 
get  the  letters  I  wrote  to  Liverpool  when  you 
were  going  off? 

There  has  been  very  little  doing  here  lately. 
Awful  bobbery  last  night  over  the  Yarmouth 
scare.  We  were  standing  by  our  machines 
until  midnight.  I  think  they  [the  Germans] 
are  sure  to  pay  us  a  visit  soon.  I  hope  it 
isn't  at  night,  though.  I  flew  for  about  half  an 
hour  this  morning.  The  French  coast  was  as 
plain  as  Punch. 

We  each  have  our  own  machines  at  last. 
Mine  is  the  actual  machine  that  Sippe  [S.  V. 
Sippe,  D.S.O.,  Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.]  had  on 
his  stunt  to  Friedrichshafen.  Our  chances  of 
getting  out  to  the  front  are  remoter  than  ever, 
and  each  of  these  silly  raids  puts  us  further 
back  still.  If  old  Rumpler  [the  German 
airman]  hadn't  taken  it  into  his  head  to  drop 
a  bomb  on  Dover  on  Xmas  day,  we  should 
42 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

in  all  probability  have  been  over  the  other  side 
by  now. 

22nd  January,  1915. 

There  has  been  a  bit  of  a  scare  on  to-day, 
but  it  has  resulted  as  usual  in  nothing,  except 
that  I  missed  my  lunch.  I  quite  enjoyed  my 
patrol  though.  I  was  up  an  hour  and  twenty 
minutes  and  pottered  around  Deal.  My  beat 
was  from  the  South  to  North  Foreland  and 
back.  It  was  rather  thick  up  [in  the  air],  but  I 
had  an  excellent  view  of  Margate,  Ramsgate, 
etc.  I  kept  at  about  4,000  feet.  It  was  a  bit 
cold,  but  not  so  bad  as  I  expected. 


28th  January,  1915. 

We  all  took  the  air  at  once  to-day  for  the 
Admiral's  benefit;  quite  a  fine  display. 

No.  i  Aeroplane  Squadron,  Dover. 

4th  February,  1915. 

We  have  four  young  marine  officers  just 
joined  up  with  the  Squadron  to  act  as  observers 
—  rather  a  good  idea,  but  they  had  a  somewhat 
rough  initiation  this  morning.  Just  after  I 
had  been  enlarging  to  them  on  the  safety  of 
flying  nowadays,  there  was  a  damned  awful 
smash.  An  Avro  came  down  in  a  nose  dive 
from  400  feet.  There  wasn't  much  left  of  it 

43 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

and  the  occupants  were  very  lucky  not  being 

done  in.     B was  pilot  and  came  out  with  a 

badly  sprained  ankle,  cuts,  bruises  and  shock; 

and  S ,  the  observer,  who  was  in   front, 

broke  his  right  arm  above  the  elbow  and 
dislocated  his  hip,  besides  cuts,  etc.  I  was 
in  the  air  at  the  time,  with  Riggall  as  my 
passenger.  He  saw  the  accident,  but  I  didn't 

know  of  it  until  I  got  down.     B is  our 

flight  commander,  so  I  suppose  our  move  is 
once  more  indefinitely  postponed. 

I  am  putting  in  for  leave  this  week-end,  and 
think  I  shall  get  it  with  luck.  Am  just  getting 
rid  of  an  awful  cold.  Riggall  and  Maude 
[J.  D.  Maude,  Fit.  Comdr.,  R.N.]  are  both 
pretty  rocky  too  —  sort  of  flu  or  something. 
Am  enclosing  a  photo  of  my  machine  [Avro] 
873.  I  think  I  told  you  it  was  the  one  Sippe 
used  on  his  raid  [on  Friedrichshafen].  The 
one  next  it,  [Avro]  875,  is  Babington's  [J.  T. 
Babington,  D.S.O.,  Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.], 
and  the  next  belonged  to  Briggs  [E.  F.  Briggs, 
D.S.O.,  Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.]  who  was 
captured  [in  the  raid]. 

9th  February,  1915. 

We  had  an  old  seaplane  wrecked  outside  the 

harbour  yesterday.     The  engine  failed  and  a 

destroyer   went   out   to   tow   the   machine    in. 

Unfortunately,    the    sea    was    rough    and   the 

44 


BRINGING   THE   PILOT   ASHORE    AFTER   A    FLIGHT   ON   A    SOPWITH    SEAPLANE 


SB 


SHORT        SEAPLANES   AT   ANCHOR    OFF    SPITHEAD 


ON  HOME  SERVICE 

destroyer  rolled  into  the  thing,  damaging  it  so 
badly  that  it  eventually  sank.  The  pilot  and 
passenger  were  taken  off  safely.  It  was  quite 
interesting,  watching  from  the  top  of  the  cliffs 
through  glasses. 

Love  to  all  at  home. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


45 


Ill 

RAIDS  ON  THE  BELGIAN  COAST 


XII 
To  his  Father 

No.  i  Aeroplane  Squadron, 
Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
I2th  February,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  wrote  home  last  on  Wednesday,  and, 
as  you  no  doubt  guessed,  there  has  since  been 
something  on.  I  could  not,  of  course,  let  you 
know,  as  our  success  or  otherwise  depended 
greatly  on  secrecy.  Wednesday  was  a  very 
busy  day.  I  tested  my  machine  for  half  an 
hour  in  the  morning,  and  by  the  evening  every- 
thing was  in  tip-top  running  order.  During 
the  day  .  .  .  machines  arrived  from  Hendon, 
Eastchurch,  etc.,  etc.,  also  .  .  .  seaplanes  turned 
up.  Among  the  Hendon  crowd  was  Grahame- 
White  and  one  or  two  others  I  knew. 

Thursday  morning  we  were  up  betimes,  and 
the  weather  being  good,  the  D.A.D.  [Commo- 
dore Murray  F.  Sueter,  C.B.,  R.N.,  Direc- 
tor of  Air  Department]  decided  we  should 
start.  We  had  fixed  up  our  maps,  etc.,  over- 
night; my  orders  were  to  drop  all  my  bombs 
49 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

on  Zebrugge.  It  was  a  bit  misty  over  the 
Channel,  and  I  was  one  of  the  last  to  get  away. 
We  went  in  order  —  slowest  machines  first,  at 
two-minute  intervals.  I  pushed  off  just  after 
8  a.m.,  climbed  to  2,000  feet  and  streaked  off 
over  the  Channel.  We  had  four  destroyers  at 
intervals  across  the  Channel  in  case  our  engines 
went  wrong,  also  seaplanes.  It  was  mighty 
comforting  to  see  them  below.  I  got  my  first 
shock  on  looking  at  my  rev.  [revolution]  coun- 
ter, which  was  jumping  from  950  to  1,200,  when 
it  should  have  been  steady  at  1,150.  The  ma- 
chine was,  however,  pulling  well,  so  I  didn't 
worry. 

In  due  course  I  struck  Calais  and  headed 
up  the  coast  about  seven  miles  out  to  sea.  I 
passed  Gravelines  and  Dunkirk  where  I  had 
reached  6,500  feet.  Then  a  huge  bank  of 
black  clouds  loomed  ahead.  Our  orders  were 
to  land  at  Dunkirk  if  clouds  were  too  bad,  but 
as  two  machines  sogged  on  ahead  of  me,  I 
pushed  on  too.  It  started  with  a  thin  mist  and 
then  gradually  got  thicker.  I  continued  so  for 
about  ten  minutes,  and  then  found  that,  ac- 
cording to  my  compass,  I  had  turned  com- 
pletely round  and  was  heading  out  to  sea.  The 
clouds  got  thicker  and  the  compass  became  use- 
less, swinging  round  and  round.  I  was  about 
7,000  feet  up  and  absolutely  lost.  The  next 
thing  I  realised  was  that  my  speed  indicator 
SO 


RAIDS  ON  THE  BELGIAN  COAST 

had  rushed  up  to  90  miles  an  hour  and  the  wind 
was  fairly  whistling  through  the  wires.  I 
pulled  her  up,  but  had  quite  lost  control. 

A  hair  raising  experience  followed.  I  nose- 
dived, side-slipped,  stalled,*  etc.,  etc.,  time 
after  time,  my  speed  varying  from  practically 
nothing  to  over  100  miles  an  hour.  I  kept  my 
head,  but  was  absolutely  scared  stiff.  I  didn't 
get  out  of  the  clouds,  which  lower  down  turned 
into  a  snow-storm  and  hail,  until  I  was  only 
1,500  feet  up.  I  came  out  diving  headlong 
for  the  earth.  As  soon  as  I  saw  the  ground, 
I  of  course  adjusted  my  sense  of  balance,  and 
flattened  out.  I  was,  however,  hopelessly  lost. 
The  sea  was  nowhere  in  sight,  and,  so  far  as 
I  could  judge,  I  was  somewhere  over  our  own 
line  behind  Nieuport. 

I  steered  by  my  compass  (which  had  recov- 
ered, being  out  of  the  clouds)  and  after  a  short 
time  picked  up  the  coast.  I  then  tried  to  skirt 
round  the  snowstorm  inland,  but  it  went  too 
far.  Next  I  tried  to  get  along  the  coast  under- 
neath the  storm,  but  also  failed  at  this,  so,  feel- 
ing awfully  sick,  I  started  back  for  Dunkirk, 
fully  expecting  to  be  the  one  failure  of  the 

*  Nose-diving,  making  a  vertical  descent. 

Side-slipping  may  occur  to  a  machine  that  has  lost  her 
flying  speed,  and  always  occurs  if  the  batik  is  too  great  or 
too  little  when  turning. 

Stalling,  loss  of  flying  speed. 

5* 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

party.  On  arrival  there,  however,  I  found 
them  all  back  but  one,  and  all  had  had  similar 
experiences.  One  man  turned  completely  up- 
side down  in  the  storm. 

By  the  way,  what  finally  decided  me  to  come 
back  was  this.  After  trying  to  get  under  the 
storm  along  the  coast  (I  had  got  very  low  down, 
about  3,000  feet),  I  heard  two  or  three  bangs, 
but  took  no  notice.  I  happened  to  look  round, 
however,  and  saw  three  nice  little  puffs  of  smoke 
about  100  yards  behind  me.  Then  came  an- 
other, much  nearer.  "  Shrapnel,"  says  I,  and 
off  I  went  to  Dunkirk. 

I  was  pretty  cold  on  arrival,  having  been  two 
hours  in  the  air.  Grahame-White  came  down 
in  the  sea  and  was  picked  up  by  one  of  our  de- 
stroyers. Pottered  round  the  aerodrome  for 
a  bit,  and  looked  at  French  and  Belgian  ma- 
chines. Anthony  Wilding  *  is  stationed  there, 
also  Carpentier,f  whom  I  didn't  see. 

Motored  into  the  town  for  lunch  and  had 
a  look  around.  Out  to  the  aerodrome  again 
in  the  afternoon,  but  nothing  doing.  Slept  on 
the  Empress  over-night.  We  first  lay  down 
on  the  couches  in  the  saloon,  then  turned  in  at 
ii  p.m.,  awfully  tired.  At  3.0  a.m.  the  stew- 

*The  Tennis  Champion,  killed  in  action  i2th  May, 
1915. 

t  Georges  Carpentier,  the  boxer,  French  airman,  injured 
in  an  aeroplane  accident,  i2th  August,  1915. 

52 


RAIDS  ON  THE  BELGIAN  COAST 

ards  came  in  to  lay  breakfast.  At  5.30  we 
were  all  up,  still  tired,  dirty,  and  feeling  rotten. 
Motored  out  to  the  aerodrome  in  the  dark, 
awfully  cold,  ugh!  I  was  one  of  the  first  off 
(in  the  dark).  I  didn't  relish  it  a  tiny  bit. 
The  weather  was  misty  and  cloudy,  and  very 
cold.  Off  Nieuport  I  was  five  miles  out  to  sea 
and  4,000  feet  up.  Before  I  came  abreast  of 
it,  I  saw  flashes  along  the  coast.  A  few  seconds 
later,  bang!  bang!  and  the  shrapnel  burst  a 
good  deal  short  of  me,  but  direction  and  height 
perfect.  I  turned  out  to  sea  and  put  another 
two  miles  between  me  and  the  coast.  By  now 
a  regular  cannonade  was  going  on.  All  along 
the  coast  the  guns  were  firing,  nasty  vicious 
flashes,  and  then  a  puff  of  smoke  as  the  shrapnel 
burst.  I  steered  a  zigzag  course  and  made 
steadily  out  to  sea,  climbing  hard. 

The  clouds  now  became  very  troublesome. 
Ostend  was  simply  a  mass  of  guns.  After  fly- 
ing for  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  I  reached 
Zebrugge.  I  had  to  come  down  to  5,500  feet 
because  of  the  clouds.  I  streaked  in  through 
them,  loosed  my  bombs,  and  then  made  off. 
I  was  hopelessly  lost,  and  my  performance  of 
the  day  before  was  repeated  in  the  clouds.  I 
got  clear,  however,  at  4,000  feet,  heading 
straight  out  to  sea  and  side-slipping  hard,  the 
earth  appearing  all  sideways  on.  I  fairly 
streaked  out  to  sea,  and  then  headed  straight 
53 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

home.     I    got   back   after    iy2    hours   in   the 
air. 

As  to  what  happened  generally,  I  can't  tell. 
It  may  possibly  appear  in  the  papers.  Maude 
came  down  in  the  sea  and  was  picked  up.  I 
got  back  here  shortly  after  4.0  p.m.  by  boat. 
Am  bringing  my  machine  back  later,  I  expect. 
I  thought  of  wiring  you  to  come  down  for  the 
night,  but  find  it's  not  feasible.  After  all, 
Dover  isn't  such  a  bad  place,  I'm  thinking.  I 
don't  mind  owning  that  I  have  been  scared  stiff 
once  or  twice  in  the  last  two  days.  They  are 
hitting  with  shrapnel  at  8,000  feet.  They 
reckon  to  get  third  shot  on  for  a  cert.  One 
machine  came  back  riddled  with  bullets.  The 
pilot  had  got  down  to  450  feet  in  the  mist. 

With  the  very  best  love  to  all  at  home, 
Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


NOTE 

The  following  is  the  Admiralty's  official  ac- 
count of  the  raid  described  in  the  foregoing 
letters:  — 

"  During  the  last  twenty-four  hours,   com- 
bined aeroplane  and  seaplane  operations  have 
been  carried  out  by  the  Naval  Wing  in  the 
54 


Photo:  Vandyk 
FLIGHT-LIEUT.    HAROLD    KOSHER,    R.N. 


RAIDS  ON  THE  BELGIAN  COAST 

Bruges,  Zeebrugge,  Blankenberghe  and  Ostend 
districts,  with  a  view  to  preventing  the  develop- 
ment of  submarine  bases  and  establishments. 

Thirty-four  naval  aeroplanes  and  seaplanes 
took  part. 

Great  damage  is  reported  to  have  been  done 
to  Ostend  Railway  Station,  which,  according  to 
present  information,  has  probably  been  burnt 
to  the  ground.  The  railway  station  at  Blank- 
enberghe was  damaged  and  railway  lines  were 
torn  up  in  many  places.  Bombs  were  dropped 
on  gun  positions  at  Middelkerke,  also  on  the 
power  station  and  German  mine-sweeping 
vessels  at  Zeebrugge,  but  the  damage  done  is 
unknown. 

During  the  attack  the  machines  encountered 
heavy  banks  of  snow. 

No  submarines  were  seen. 

Flight  Commander  Grahame-White  fell  into 
the  sea  off  Nieuport  and  was  rescued  by  a 
French  vessel. 

Although  exposed  to  heavy  gun-fire  from 
rifles,  anti-aircraft  guns,  mitrailleuses,  etc.,  all 
pilots  are  safe.  Two  machines  were  damaged. 

The  seaplanes  and  aeroplanes  were  under  the 
command  of  Wing  Commander  Samson,  as- 
sisted by  Wing  Commander  Longmore  and 
Squadron  Commanders  Porte,  Courtney,  and 
Rathbone." 


55 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

Harold  Kosher  went  back  to  France  on 
February,  1915,  and  three  days  later  took  part 
in  a  further  great  raid,  of  which  the  following 
is  the  Admiralty's  official  account:  — 

"  The  air  operations  of  the  Naval  Wing 
against  the  Bruges,  Ostend-Zeebrugge  District 
have  been  continued. 

This  afternoon  40  aeroplanes  and  seaplanes 
bombarded  Ostend,  Middelkerke,  Ghistelles, 
and  Zeebrugge. 

Bombs  were  dropped  on  the  heavy  batteries 
situated  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  Ostend 
harbour;  on  the  gun  position  at  Middelkerke; 
on  transport  waggons  on  the  Ostend-Ghistelles 
road;  on  the  mole  at  Zeebrugge  to  widen  the 
breach  damaged  in  former  attacks ;  on  the  locks 
at  Zeebrugge ;  on  barges  outside  Blankenberghe, 
and  on  trawlers  outside  Zeebrugge. 

Eight  French  aeroplanes  assisted  the  naval 
machines  by  making  a  vigorous  attack  on  the 
Ghistelles  aerodrome,  thus  effectively  prevent- 
ing the  German  aircraft  from  cutting  off  our 
machines. 

It  is  reported  that  good  results  were  obtained. 

Instructions  are  always  issued  to  confine  the 
attacks  to  points  of  military  importance,  and 
every  effort  is  made  by  the  flying  officers  to 
avoid  dropping  bombs  on  any  residential  por- 
tions of  the  towns." 

56 


RAIDS  ON  THE  BELGIAN  COAST 

AIR  RAID,  i6TH  FEBRUARY,  1915. —  Harold  Kosher 
sent  no  written  account  of  this  raid,  as  he  returned  to 
Dover  immediately  after  taking  part  in  it.  Describing  his 
experiences  in  the  raid,  he  stated  that  his  instructions  were 
to  drop  his  bombs  on  a  certain  place  behind  Ostend.  On 
leaving  Dunkirk  he  flew  up  the  coast.  When  he  got  past 
Nieuport,  he  came  under  heavy  fire,  and  headed  out  to  sea. 
Off  Ostend  the  firing  was  terrific,  and  seeing  ahead  a  big 
bank  of  clouds  he  continued  past  Ostend  until  he  got  above 
them.  Thus  concealed  he  turned  and  came  inland,  and 
was  able  to  reach  his  objective  unobserved.  The  explosion 
of  his  bombs  was  the  first  intimation  the  enemy  had  of  his 
presence.  Anti-aircraft  batteries  immediately  opened  fire 
on  him,  but  by  that  time  he  was  making  off,  and  flying 
some  miles  out  to  sea,  he  came  back  down  the  coast  in 
safety  to  Dunkirk.  One  can  imagine  the  strained  anxiety 
with  which  those  who  come  back  from  raids  such  as  this, 
await  the  arrival  of  overdue  comrades.  On  this  occasion 
three  of  them,  including  Harold's  special  chum,  Flight-Lt. 
Gordon  Riggall,  never  returned. 


XIII 
To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 

24th  February,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  arrived  here  safely  in  excellent  time 
after  quite  a  comfy  journey.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Riggall  left  yesterday,  but  during  the  course  of 

57 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

the  afternoon  I  received  a  very  nice  letter  from 
him  .  .  .  [Their  son,  Lieut.  Riggall,  was 
"missing"]. 

If  you  can  possibly  manage  it,  come  down 
to-morrow  (Thursday)  night.  In  case  I  am 
unable  to  meet  you  at  the  station,  come  straight 
on  to  the  Burlington.  I  will  reserve  you  a 
room.  The  Dunkirk  boat  was  missed  twice  by 
torpedoes  yesterday.  She  is  now  running  very 
irregularly.  I  cannot  be  certain  as  to  my  move- 
ments, but  will  put  you  off  by  wire  if  necessary. 
On  arrival  here  I  found  all  my  letters  had  been 
forwarded  to  the  other  side,  also  my  Gieve  life- 
belt. .  .  . 

I  think  I  just  got  away  from  home  before 
you  all  quite  spoilt  me.  It's  awfully  bad  for 
one,  you  know,  and  mustn't  occur  again  or  I 
shall  be  getting  quite  beyond  myself.  I  thor- 
oughly enjoyed  every  moment  of  my  leave  (ex- 
cept the  being  "  shown  off  "  part,  which  I  en- 
dured with  as  good  grace  as  possible),  but  I 
don't  want  any  one  to  run  away  with  the  idea 
that  I  have  done  anything  extraordinary.  One 
has  only  to  go  across  the  other  side  to  realise 
that  everybody  out  there  is  doing  his  best. 
Army  pilots  are  flying  day  after  day  for  hours 
on  end,  under  fire,  and  trench  life  must  be  no 
less  trying.  After  all,  when  one  comes  to  think 
of  it,  it  was  what  I  joined  the  Air  Service  for, 
and  probably  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the 

58; 


RAIDS  ON  THE  BELGIAN  COAST 

everyday  routine  will  prove  a  much  tougher  job 
than  these  occasional  stunts. 

Well,  I've  gassed  long  enough,  so  good-bye 
and  very  best  love  to  all  at  home  (mind  you 
come  down  to-morrow  night  unless  I  wire  you 
otherwise) . 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

P.S. —  The  watch  is  keeping  excellent  time 
and  the  pipe  is  settling  down  into  first-rate 
smoking  order. 


IV 
WITH  THE  B.E.F. 


XIV 

To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Naval  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

ist  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

I  only  had  time  to  scrawl  off  a  few  lines 
to  you  this  morning,  as  the  mail  was  just  going 
out.  We  have  been  pretty  busy  the  last  day 
or  so  getting  things  shipshape.  I  am  at  last 
settled  in  a  quite  nice  house  with  seven  others. 
Maude  and  I  are  the  two  senior  inmates,  so 
are  running  the  establishment.  Unfortunately, 
we  have  no  bath,  but  five  minutes'  walk  from 
here  there  are  some  public  baths,  where  we  can 
get  a  hot  tub  any  time  between  8  a.m.  and  7 
p.m. 

We  are  acting  as  our  own  censors  here,  and 
also  have  to  censor  all  the  men's  letters  —  some 
of  them  are  most  amusing.  There  is  nothing 
exciting  at  all  happening.  Weather  has  been 
pretty  bad  and  shows  signs  of  getting  worse. 

Have  just  run  out  of  ink,  am  now  writing 
with  coffee ! 

63 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

4th  March,  1915. 

We  are  settling  down  by  degrees.  Our 
house  is  really  beginning  to  get  quite  comfort- 
able. Wilding  has  been  staying  here  with  us 
the  last  few  days. 

6th  March,  1915. 

Had  my  first  letter  from  you  this  morning, 
dated  the  3rd,  for  which  many  thanks.  It's  the 
first  news  of  any  sort  from  home  since  we  have 
been  out  here.  Weather  still  continues  very 
bad  and,  personally,  I  shouldn't  mind  a  little 
more  of  it  still. 

Did  I  tell  you  that  my  Gieve  lifebelt  had 
turned  up?  You  can't  imagine  how  firmly  at- 
tached I  am  to  it.  I  can't  bear  parting  with  it  at 
night.  The  flask  I  have  filled  up  to  the  stopper 
with  rum  —  brandy  and  whisky  are  unprocura- 
ble. 

We  don't  get  much  in  the  way  of  light  litera- 
ture, so  any  weekly  papers,  such  as  Sketches, 
Tatlers,  Punch,  are  looked  on  as  great  luxuries. 
By  the  way,  is  the  watch  keeping  good  time? 
I  had  the  chance  of  being  inoculated  the  other 
day,  but  didn't  think  it  worth  while.  I  may 
be  done  later,  possibly. 

Ever  your  loving  son.  Love  to  all  at  home. 

HAROLD. 

P.S. —  There  is  a  rumour  that  we  get  a  week's 
leave  after  being  out  here  three  months. 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

XV 
To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

7th  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Have  just  got  your  letter  of  the  4th  inst. 
It  arrived  late  in  the  day,  after  Dad's.  I  am 
afraid  this  has  missed  the  mail;  so  won't  go  off 
for  a  couple  of  days.  I  have  just  come  off 
duty;  we  get  three  days  at  it  on  end.  There's 
no  baccy  to  be  procured  out  here,  so  could  you 
send  me  on  a  %  Ib.  tin  of  Friars'  Mixture 
(medium)  ? 

Am  just  back  from  a  little  bomb-dropping 
stunt  over  Ostend,  but  keep  it  quiet  until  it 
appears  in  the  papers,  or  if  it  doesn't,  allow 
say  a  week.  It  was  bitterly  cold  and  took  about 
i%  hours.  I  pushed  the  old  bus  up  to  8,000 
ft.,  right  above  a  terrific  layer  of  clouds.  It 
was  a  most  wonderful  sight.  I  only  got  occa- 
sional glimpses  of  the  earth  and  sea,  and  was 
not  fired  at  at  all  —  in  fact,  I  don't  think  I  was 
ever  even  seen. 

It's  quite  impossible  for  me  to  let  you  know 
my  whereabouts  in  France,  but  I  seem  to  have 
a  vague  recollection  of  telling  you  where  I  was 
going  before  I  left.  If  you  can  remember,  all 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

well  and  good.     If  not,  put  two  and  two  to- 
gether, and  the  answer  is ? 

Heaps  of  love  to  all,  and  Cheer  O !  for  my 
week's  leave  in  3  months'  time. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


NOTE 

The  following  is  the  Admiralty's  official  ac- 
count of  the  raid  described  in  the  foregoing  let- 
ter: — 

*  Wing  Commander  Longmore  reports  that 
an  air  attack  on  Ostend  was  carried  out  yester- 
day afternoon  (7th  March)  by  six  aeroplanes 
of  the  Naval  Wing.  Of  these  two  had  to  re- 
turn owing  to  petrol  freezing. 

The  remainder  reached  Ostend  and  dropped 
eleven  bombs  on  the  submarine  repair  base  and 
four  bombs  on  the  Kursaal,  the  headquarters  of 
the  military. 

All  machines  and  pilots  returned. 

It  is  probable  that  considerable  damage  was 
done.  No  submarines  were  seen  in  the  basin. 

The  attack  was  carried  out  in  a  fresh  N.N.W. 
wind." 


66 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

XVI 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F. 
8th  March,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  have  struck  rather  an  unfortunate  day 
to-day.  To  begin  with,  this  morning  I  was 
taxying  my  machine  to  the  far  end  of  the  aero- 
drome, to  start  off  into  the  wind,  when  I  got 
into  some  very  soft  ground  —  result,  before  I 
knew  where  I  was,  I  found  the  machine  stand- 
ing up  on  its  nose.  Fortunately,  the  only  dam- 
age was  a  broken  propeller,  which  didn't  matter, 
as  it  was  already  chipped  and  was  going  to  be 
replaced.  In  the  afternoon  I  had  quite  a  good 
trip,  just  over  an  hour,  and  quite  long  enough, 
as  it  has  been  pretty  nearly  freezing  all  day 
long.  I  made  a  good  landing,  but  a  second  or 
so  after  I  actually  touched  the  ground,  a  tyre 
burst,  and  I  all  but  turned  a  complete  somer- 
sault. For  several  seconds  I  was  quite  vertical, 
and  then  the  machine  fell  back.  One  or  two 
things  were  bent,  but  on  the  whole  remarkably 
little  damage.  The  skid  broke  and  leading 
edge  of  one  wing  tip.  A  wheel  also  buckled 
up,  but  I  should  be  going  strong  again  by  to- 
morrow. 

67. 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

i2th  March,  1915. 

Still  going  strong  and  things  on  the  whole 
keeping  fairly  quiet.  There  has  been  another 
little  bomb-dropping  episode,  in  which  I  didn't 
take  part,  however,  as  my  machine  was  under- 
going some  repairs.  Please  send  on  my  fur 
coat  at  once,  as  my  leather  one  has  given  out 
suddenly  —  am  sending  it  back  to  Gieve's  im- 
mediately on  receipt  of  other. 

i4th  March,  1915. 

Many  thanks  for  letter,  Flight,  and  the  Aero- 
plane, received  yesterday.  The  days  are  length- 
ening out  tremendously  now,  and  we  manage 
to  get  in  quite  a  good  walk  after  tea  along 
the  front.  There  is  an  excellent  promenade, 
crowded  with  the  town  folk,  and  most  gorgeous 
sands  with  heaps  of  very  pretty  shells.  The 
sands  make  a  most  perfect  landing  ground  and 
have  already  come  in  very  useful  in  emergency. 

I  flew  a  Vickers  gun  bus  [gun-carrying  bi- 
plane] the  other  day  (you  saw  one  at  Dover,  I 
think).  I  didn't  like  it  much.  For  one  thing 
it  was  very  badly  balanced,  and  secondly,  I  don't 
like  a  monosoupape  [engine]  (100  h.p. 
Gnome).  My  own  machine  I  can  get  so  per- 
fectly balanced  that  I  can  let  go  the  controls  for 
minutes  on  end.  Had  a  delightful  trip  to-day 
to  ...  It's  most  interesting  watching  the  shells 
burst.  Somebody's  beginning  to  push  pretty 
68 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

hard  in  places,  I  can  tell  you.     We  hear  the 
guns  hammering  away  day  and  night  now. 

Our  aerodrome  here  is  a  beastly  small  one. 
I  have  had  several  narrow  shaves  already  of 
running  into  things,  and  feel  sure  that  before 
long  I  shall  u  crash  "  something.  I  think  that 
I  shall  shortly  have  an  opportunity  of  flying  a 
monoplane.  Am  looking  forward  to  it  u  some." 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XVII 

To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Naval  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

1 5th  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Have  had  a  great  time  to-day.  First 
thing  in  the  morning  the  C.O.  gave  Maude 
and  myself  the  whole  day  off.  We  promptly 
secured  a  car,  passports  and  pass-words,  had  an 
early  lunch,  and  then  sallied  forth  full  of  hope 
to  see  the  WAR.  Our  password  held  good 
until  we  got  into  Belgium,  and  then  proved 
"  dud."  The  sentry,  however,  very  kindly  sup- 
plied us  with  another.  We  were  rather  unfortu- 
nate in  getting  a  tyre  punctured,  but  half  a  dozen 
6q 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

Belgian  soldiers  rushed  up  and  asked  us  if 
we  wanted  any  help,  and  how  many  men.  They 
carefully  explained  they  would  do  anything  to 
help  the  English.  Eventually  they  did  every- 
thing for  us.  The  place  we  visited  was  the 
same  as  I  went  to  when  over  here  before.  This 
afternoon  it  was  being  rather  heavily  bom- 
barded. We  left  our  car  outside  the  town, 
shells  bursting  within  50  yards  of  it.  We  then 
sallied  forth  on  foot  into  the  town  —  terrific 
bangs  from  the  French  guns  firing  near  us,  and 
shells  fairly  whistling  overhead.  You  can  tell 
when  they  are  coming  near  you  by  the  sound 
they  make.  The  French  soldiers  are  quite 
wily,  and  scuttle  away  like  rabbits,  when  they 
hear  one  coming  near.  In  the  town  several 
shells  burst  very  near  us,  and  fragments  of  stone 
and  dust  fell  freely  around  us  —  rather  too 
warm  for  my  liking.  There  was  quite  a  differ- 
ence since  I  was  last  there,  several  more  build- 
ings being  reduced  to  ruins.  One  shell  hole 
would  have  concealed  40  or  50  men  easily.  We 
only  stayed  half  an  hour,  and  saw  quite  enough. 
Two  Frenchmen  were  killed  here  this  even- 
ing. They  stalled  and  side-slipped  from  about 
80  feet  in  a  Voisin  and  were  killed  instantly. 
From  what  I  heard  they  were  smashed  to  bits. 

It's  all  luck.     B fell  400  feet  and  only 

sprained  his  ankle,  and  these  two  fellows  broke 
every    bone    in    their    bodies.     The    machine 

70 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

caught  fire  on  the  ground  and  was  burnt  to 
bits.  I  saw  the  remains  this  evening.  Two 
French  machines  and  four  pilots  are  missing 
from  a  little  bomb-dropping  stunt  of  theirs  yes- 
terday. You  never  hear  of  these  things  at 
home,  but  flying  casualties  are  heavier  than 
one  is  led  to  believe.  A  short  time  back  the 
R.F.C.  [Royal  Flying  Corps]  lost  five  in  a 
week! 

Have  just  discovered  that  the  Duchess  of 
Sutherland  and  Lady  Rosemary  are  running  a 
hospital  out  here. 

French  sanitary  arrangements  are  really  ex- 
traordinary. I  don't  believe  there  is  a  drain  in 
the  place.  Such  things  are  unknown  in  small 
French  towns. 

Am  sending  you  a  cheque  for  £20,  as  it  is  an 
awful  nuisance  getting  cash  here.  I  want  you 
to  send  me  on  £5  at  once  in  notes  and  the  rest 
as  I  ask,  as  I  don't  want  a  lot  of  money  about 
me.  Also  I  expect  I  owe  you  something  for 
flea  bag,  etc.,  and  I  am  sure  to  be  wanting  other 
things  later.  Am  sending  you  on  the  pins  and 
brooches. 

Very  best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 


XVIII 
To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Naval  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

i6th  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Whatever  induced  you  to  do  it?  The 
tobacco,  etc.,  arrived,  but  the  toffee  had  all 
melted,  and  a  more  sticky  mess  you  can't  con- 
ceive. It  was  as  much  as  I  could  do  to  read 
your  letter.  I  managed  to  rescue  some  of  the 
toffee  and  the  general  opinion  on  same  is  that 
it  is  very  good.  Two  letters  from  Dad  and  the 
sleeping  bag  arrived  by  same  mail,  for  which 
many  thanks. 

I  had  to  make  a  hurried  landing  on  the  sands 
to-day  owing  to  an  exhaust  cam  [valve  oper- 
ating mechanism]  breaking.  Flew  my  machine 
back  in  the  evening.  Have  just  started  another 
three  days'  duty. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


72 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 
XIX 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Naval  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

2ist  March,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Very  little  news  of  interest  to  tell  you. 
I  was  sent  out  suddenly  yesterday  afternoon 
late  to  look  for  a  Zepp,  but  saw  nothing.  It 
was  dusk  by  the  time  I  got  back,  and  an  inlet 
valve  went  just  as  I  was  coming  in.  I  couldn't 
reach  our  aerodrome,  but  just  managed  to 
scrape  into  the  Belgian  one  alongside.  The 
French  brought  down  a  Taube  to-day  and  one 
yesterday  (anti-aircraft  guns).  They  are  get- 
ting nearly  as  hot  as  the  Germans.  I  can  tell 
you  that  some  of  us  are  beginning  to  think  our 
chances  of  seeing  England  again  are  somewhat 
remote. 

To-day  has  been  the  most  perfect  day  we 
have  had  out  here  so  far.  This  afternoon  I 
shot  a  wild  duck  with  a  Webley-Scott  pistol  at 
50  yards.  It  was  the  6th  shot,  but  the  others 
were  all  very  close  —  not  bad  shooting,  eh? 

The  Punches  turned  up  alright,  but  much 
later  than  the  other  papers  —  all  much  appre- 
ciated. Best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

73 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XX 

To  his  Mother. 

No.  i  Squadron,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

2srd  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Another  fine  day,  and  let's  hope  the 
weather  will  last  The  town  this  afternoon  is 
crowded  with  small  girls  all  in  white  —  long 
skirts  and  veils  —  confirmation,  I  suppose. 

Have  spent  a  very  busy  day  tuning  up  my 
bus,  and  am  not  over  satisfied  with  it  now. 
To-morrow  at  the  crack  of  dawn  I  am  off  on 
another  stunt,  this  time  more  hazardous  than 
ever.  When  I  start  thinking  of  the  possibili- 
ties, or  rather  probabilities,  I  go  hot  and  cold 
by  turns ;  so  endeavour  to  switch  off  on  to  some- 
thing else,  but  it  keeps  coming  back  to  the  same 
old  thing.  Am  not  posting  this  until  just  be- 
fore I  start,  but  all  the  same  can  tell  you  no  de- 
tails. By  the  time  you  get  this,  I  shall  either 
have  returned  safely  or  be  elsewhere.  The 
papers  will  no  doubt  give  you  more  news  than 
I  can  at  present.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  my  jour- 
ney will  be  round  about  200  miles  and  will  last 
4 — 5  hours.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  we 
shall  have  enough  petrol  to  bring  us  back.  It's 
74 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

a  first-rate  stunt  though,  and  I  suppose  a  feather 
in  my  cap,  being  one  of  the  chosen  few. 
Very  best  love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XXI 

To  his  Mother  and  Father 

No.  i  Squadron,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 
24th  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM  AND  DAD, 

Another  successful  little  jaunt.  Five  of 
us  were  chosen  to  go  —  Capt.  Courtney  [Major 
Ivor  T.  Courtney,  Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.], 
Meates  (who  travelled  up  to  town  from  Dover 
in  the  train  with  Dad)  self,  and  two  subs  named 
Andreae  and  Huskisson.  Courtney  and  I  got 
there  and  back,  Meates  [B.  C.,  Fit.  Lieut, 
R.N.]  came  down  in  Holland  with  engine  trou- 
ble, and  is  interned.  .  .  .  Andreae  [P.  G.  An- 
dreae, Fit.  Lieut,  R.N.]  lost  his  way  in  the 
clouds  and  fog,  and  came  back,  and  Huskisson 
[B.  L.  Huskisson,  Fit  Comdr.,  R.N.]  did  the 
same,  only  dropped  his  bombs  on  Ostend  on  the 
way.  Our  mark,  by  the  way,  was  the  sub- 
marine base  at  Hoboken,  near  Antwerp. 
75 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

Yesterday  morning  we  were  to  have  gone, 
but  the  weather  was  not  good  enough,  and  last 
night  we  slept  at  the  aerodrome,  so  as  to  get  off 
at  the  "  crack  of  dawn."  This  morning  we  got 
up  about  3.30  a.m.  (thank  goodness,  the 
weather  was  warm),  and  breakfast  followed. 
It's  mighty  hard  to  get  down  eggs  and  bread 
and  butter  at  that  hour.  We  cut  for  the  order 
of  starting,  but  decided  to  keep  as  near  one  an- 
other as  possible.  I  went  off  last  but  one,  at 
5.30  a.m.,  and  streaked  out  straight  across  the 
sea.  We  were  pretty  heavily  loaded,  and  my 
bus  wouldn't  climb  much.  I  saw  one  machine 
ahead  of  me,  but  lost  it  almost  immediately  in 
the  clouds,  which  were  very  low  (2,500  feet), 
and  it  was  also  very  misty. 

Our  course  was  right  up  the  coast,  past 
Zeebrugge,  and  then  cut  in  across  the  land.  At 
the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt  I  got  clear  of  some  of 
the  clouds  and  saw  Courtney  behind  and  2,000 
feet  above  me,  my  machine  then  being  about 
5,000  feet  only.  He  rapidly  overtook  me  (we 
were  all  on  Avros,  but  his  was  faster),  and 
from  then  on  I  followed  him  over  the  clouds. 
Unfortunately,  over  Antwerp  there  were  no 
clouds.  Courtney  was  about  five  or  six  minutes 
in  front  of  me,  and  I  saw  him  volplane  out  of 
sight.  I  had  to  go  on  some  little  way  before  I 
spotted  the  yards  myself.  I  next  saw  Courtney 
very  low  down,  flying  away  to  the  coast  with 


Photo:  Russell,  Southsea 
SQUADRON-COMMANDER    IVOR   T.    COURTNEY,    R.N.    (MAJOR   R.M.L.I.) 

Who  led  the  raid  on  Hoboken,  described  in  the  accompanying  letter 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

shrapnel  bursting  around  him.  He  came  down 
to  under  500  feet,  and  being  first  there,  dropped 
his  bombs  before  he  was  fired  on. 

As  the  wind  was  dead  against  me,  I  decided 
to  come  round  in  a  semi-circle  to  cross  the  yards 
with  the  wind,  so  as  to  attain  a  greater  speed. 
I  was  only  5,500  feet  up,  and  they  opened  fire 
on  me  with  shrapnel  as  soon  as  I  got  within 
range.  It  began  getting  a  bit  hot,  so  before  I 
got  quite  round  I  shut  off  my  petrol,  and  came 
down  with  a  steep  volplane  until  I  was  2,500 
feet,  when  I  turned  on  my  petrol  again,  and 
continued  my  descent  at  a  rate  of  well  over  a 
hundred  miles  an  hour.  I  passed  over  the  yards 
at  about  1,000  feet  only,  and  loosed  all  my 
bombs  over  the  place.  The  whole  way  down 
I  was  under  fire,  two  anti-aircraft  in  the  yard, 
guns  from  the  forts  on  either  side,  rifle  fire, 
mitrailleuse  or  machine  guns,  and,  most  weird 
of  all,  great  bunches  ( 15  to  20)  of  what  looked 
like  green  rockets,  but  I  think  they  were  flam- 
ing bullets.  The  excitement  of  the  moment 
was  terrific.  I  have  never  travelled  so  fast  be- 
fore in  my  life.  My  first  impressions  were  the 
great  speed,  the  flaming  bullets  streaking  by,  the 
incessant  rattle  of  the  machine  gun  and  rifle  fire, 
and  one  or  two  shells  bursting  close  by,  knock- 
ing my  machine  all  sideways,  and  pretty  nearly 
deafening  me. 

On  my  return  I  found  my  machine  was  only 
77 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

hit  twice  —  rather  wonderful;  one  bullet  hole 
through  the  tail  and  a  piece  of  shrapnel  buried 
in  the  main  spar  of  one  wing.  I  have  now  got 
it  out. 

I  found  myself  across  the  yards,  and  felt  a 
mild  sort  of  surprise.  My  eyes  must  have  been 
sticking  out  of  my  head  like  a  shrimp's!  I 
know  I  was  gasping  for  breath  and  crouching 
down  in  the  fuselage  [body  of  the  machine]. 
I  was,  however,  by  no  means  clear,  for  shrapnel 
was  still  bursting  around  me.  I  jammed  the 
rudder  first  one  way  and  then  the  other.  I 
banked  first  on  one  wing  tip,  and  then  on  to 
the  other,  now  slipping  outwards,  and  now  up 
and  now  down.  I  was  literally  hedged  in  by 
forts  (and  only  1,000  feet  up),  and  had  to  run 
the  gauntlet  before  getting  away.  I  was  under 
rifle  fire  right  up  to  the  frontier,  and  even  then 
the  Dutch  potted  me. 

My  return  journey  was  trying.  Most  of  the 
time  I  had  to  fly  at  under  500  feet,  as  I  ran 
into  thick  clouds  and  mist.  I  pottered  gaily 
right  over  Flushing,  and  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  a  Dutch  cruiser  and  two  torpedo  boats. 
I  got  back  home  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
after  Courtney,  having  been  very  nearly  four 
hours  in  the  air,  and  having  covered,  I  suppose, 
getting  on  for  250  miles. 

Have  not  yet  heard  what  damage  was  done. 
The  C.O.  was  awfully  braced. 

78 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

I  had  some  breakfast  when  I  got  back,  wrote 
out  my  report,  had  lunch,  and  then  a  very,  very 
hot  bath.  To-morrow  I  am  going  out  with 
Courtney  to  see  the  War,  as  we  have  been  given 
the  day  off  to  do  as  we  please. 

My  engine  gave  me  several  anxious  moments. 
For  some  reason  it  cut  right  out  over  the 
Scheldt,  and  I  had  actually  given  up  all  hope 
when  it  picked  up  again.  It  was  pretty  risky 
work  flying  several  miles  out  to  sea,  only  just 
in  sight  of  land  too,  but  our  surprise  (or  I 
should  say  Courtney's)  of  the  Germans  was  cer- 
tainly complete. 

Must  really  stop  now. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


NOTE 

The  following  is  the  Admiralty's  official  ac- 
count of  the  Antwerp  raid:  — 

'  The  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty  yesterday 
afternoon  [24th  March]  issued  the  following 
communication  from  Wing  Commander  Long- 
more:  — 

I  have  to  report  that  a  successful  air  attack 
was  carried  out  this  morning  by  five  machines 

79 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

of  the  Dunkirk  Squadron  on  the  German  sub- 
marines being  constructed  at  Hoboken  near 
Antwerp. 

Two  of  the  pilots  had  to  return  owing  to 
thick  weather,  but  Squadron  Commander  Ivor 
T.  Courtney  and  Flight  Lieutenant  H.  Kosher 
reached  their  objective,  and  after  planing  down 
to  1000  feet  dropped  four  bombs  each  on  the 
submarines.  It  is  believed  that  considerable 
damage  has  been  done  to  both  the  works  and 
to  submarines.  The  works  were  observed  to 
be  on  fire.  In  all  five  submarines  were  observed 
on  the  slip. 

Flight  Lieutenant  B.  Crossley-Meates  was 
obliged  by  engine  trouble  to  descend  in  Hol- 
land. 

Owing  to  the  mist  the  two  pilots  experienced 
considerable  difficulty  in  finding  their  way,  and 
were  subjected  to  a  heavy  gunfire  while  deliver- 
ing their  attack." 


The  French  official  communique  gave  precise 
details,  thus:  — 

"  At  Hoboken  the  Antwerp  shipbuilding  yard 
was  set  on  fire  and  two  submarines  were  de- 
stroyed, while  a  third  was  damaged.  Forty 
German  workmen  were  killed  and  sixty-two 
wounded." 

'80 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

XXII 
To  his  Father 

No.  i  Squadron,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 
26th  March,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  had  quite  a  good  time  yesterday  with 
Courtney,  although  the  weather  was  so  bad. 
We  started  out  gaily  through  Bergues,  a  rip- 
ping little  town,  then  Cassel,  a  most  delightful 
spot.  It  is  perched  up  on  a  hill  in  the  middle 
of  a  plain  and  you  get  a  grand  view  around. 
We  visited  some  R.F.C.  people  at  St.  Omer, 
had  lunch  there  and  then  went  out  to  Wipers 
(Ypres).  There  was  nothing  doing  there,  but 
even  though  we  had  all  sorts  of  passes,  we 
could  not  get  near  the  firing  line.  The  Cloth 
Hall  and  Cathedral  we  thoroughly  inspected 
though  —  most  lovely  places,  utterly  in  ruins. 
The  remainder  of  the  town  is  really  very  little 
touched  —  nothing  like  Nieuport,  where  there 
is  not  a  whole  building  anywhere.  We  got 
back  home  about  6  p.m.,  having  enjoyed  our- 
selves immensely  and  feeling  quite  tired  out. 
My  troubles  weren't  over  though,  as  I  found  a 
little  "  chit "  awaiting  me,  asking  me  to  dine 
with  the  Commander. 

The  First  Lord  wired  his  "  congrats  "  to  us 
81 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

through  Longmore  —  some  feather  in  our  caps, 
what !  This  morning  I  see  all  sorts  of  garbled 
accounts  in  the  newspapers.  My  photo  in  the 

is  awful.     ought  to  be  shot. 

Must  close  as  the  mail  is  just  going  out. 
Best  love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XXIII 
To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Squadron,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

3ist  March,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

We  can  hear  the  guns  when  the  wind 
is  our  way,  and  on  a  clear  day  we  can  see  shrap- 
nel bursting  in  the  air.  What  do  you  think  of 
this  story,  the  latest  from  the  trenches?  It's 
not  quite  a  drawing-room  one  ! 

One  Tommy,  speaking  to  another  over  the 
trenches:  — "  Ello,  Bill,  got  a  lice  over  there?  " 
"  Garn,  we  ain't  lousy."  "  I  mean  a  boot- 
lice." 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 
82 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

P.S. —  Meates  did  get  to  Hoboken  and  came 
down  in  Holland  on  return  journey. 

Tell  Dad  to  let  me  know  when  he  is  coming, 
as  near  as  possible,  so  that  perhaps  I  can  ar- 
range to  meet  him.  The  boat  does  not  cross 
here  every  day,  but  he  can  also  come  via  Calais. 
Think  I  can  fix  up  a  room  over  the  road. 


XXIV 

To  his  Sister 

No.  i  Squadron,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

ist  April,  1915. 

DEAR  OLD  GIRL, 

I  really  feel  I  owe  you  a  few  lines,  as 
you  have  honoured  me  with  several  epistles 
lately,  which  I  fear  have  remained  unanswered. 

Did  my  last  letter  to  Mother  arrive  very 
sticky?  It  left  here  sopping  wet,  and  thereby 
hangs  a  tale.  I  hadn't  time  to  re-write  it,  as 
the  mail  was  just  going  out.  I  unfortunately 
had  the  letter  on  me  and,  in  conjunction  with 
myself,  it  got  rather  a  bad  ducking. 

I  was  sent  up  with  an  observer  this  morning 
in  a  Vickers  gun  bus  (a  pusher  machine),  and 
all  went  well  until  coming  home,  when  my  en- 

83 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

gine  petered  out,  when  I  was  only  400  feet  over 
the  town.  I  hadn't  much  choice  of  landing 
grounds,  and  preferred  to  come  down  in  one  of 
the  docks  to  landing  on  a  house-top  or  in  a  maze 
of  telegraph  wires.  I  pancaked  [flattened 
out]  as  much  as  possible,  but  hit  the  water  with 
a  bit  of  a  biff.  Things  then  began  to  happen 
pretty  suddenly.  I  remember  seeing  my  ob- 
server shot  out  into  the  water  about  twenty 
yards  ahead,  and  the  next  thing  I  knew  was  that 
I  was  under  the  water  and  still  in  the  machine. 
I  was  scared  "  some,"  and  the  water  tasted 
beastly  salt,  but  I  pulled  myself  together,  and 
says  I  to  myself,  ses  I,  "  Harold,  my  boy,  if  you 
don't  keep  your  head  and  get  out  of  this  damn 
quick,  you'll  drown  for  a  cert  like  a  rat  in  a 
trap."  So  I  carefully  thought  out  just  where 
the  top  plane  would  be,  and  disentangled  my- 
self from  things  in  general.  It  took  a  long 
time  though,  and  I  was  relieved  "  some  "  when 
I  bobbed  up  to  the  surface.  I  was  rather  sur- 
prised at  keeping  afloat  very  easily,  as  I  had 
heaps  of  clothes  on. 

On  arrival  at  the  surface,  I  found  my  ob- 
server hanging  on  to  the  machine,  and  it  didn't 
take  me  long  to  get  a  hold  on  it  myself.  We 
were  only  about  40  yards  from  the  side  of  the 
dock,  but  didn't  venture  to  swim,  as  the  sides 
were  twenty  feet  high,  and  the  ladders  only  just 
reached  to  the  water.  There  were  no  boats  at 


ONE   VICKERS    FIGHTING    BIPLANE    PHOTOGRAPHED    FROM    ANOTHER 


A   VICKERS   FIGHTING    BIPLANE 

It  was  on  a  machine  of  this  type  that  Lieut.  Rosher  plunged  into 
the  Docks  at  Dunkirk 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

all  there,  but  we  soon  had  a  hundred  or  so  dock 
hands  around  the  side,  all  of  whom  seemed  to 
talk  very  volubly,  but  were  very  incompetent. 
The  water  was  icy  cold  and  we  were  very  cold 
before  coming  into  it.  With  some  difficulty 
I  managed  to  undo  a  button  or  so  and  blow  out 
my  Gieves  waistcoat,  but  it  wasn't  really  neces- 
sary as  I  was  keeping  afloat  well.  After  a  bit 
some  life  belts  were  thrown  out,  and  two  men 
came  out  on  a  little  raft.  I  swam  to  a  life  belt 
and  my  observer  (Collen)  [Lieut.  A.  R.  Col- 
len,  R.M.A.]  got  on  the  raft.  We  both  had 
to  be  hauled  up  out  of  the  dock  with  ropes,  and 
by  the  time  we  got  on  terra  firma,  it  was  as 
much  as  we  could  do  to  stand  up.  We  were 
in  the  water  about  20  minutes,  and  I  don't  think 
I  have  ever  been  so  cold  before. 

We  walked  rapidly  off  to  the  aerodrome, 
half  a  mile  away,  and  there  had  a  stiff  rum  and 
milk,  and  stripped  in  front  of  a  fire  and  had 
a  good  rub  down.  We  had  lunch  wrapped  up 
in  towels  and  were  then  rigged  out  in  blue  jer- 
seys and  blue  serge  trousers.  This  afternoon 
we  have  both  had  a  hot  bath  and  are  feeling 
none  the  worse.  The  C.O.  was  very  amused 
about  the  whole  proceeding  and  laughed  heart- 
ily at  us.  The  machine  is  but  very  little  dam- 
aged, but  will  take  some  salving.  My  pocket 
book,  cheque  book,  etc.,  are  all  in  a  nasty  sticky 
state.  Thank  goodness!  I  hadn't  my  gold 
85 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

watch.     My  clothes  (including  new  fur  coat) 
are,  I  am  afraid,  all  ruined. 

This  afternoon  Garros  [Lieut.  Roland  Gar- 
ros] shot  down  a  Taube  from  his  Morane. 
The  poor  wretches  were  burnt  to  death.  Two 
of  our  people  raided  Zeebrugge  and  Hoboken 
again  this  morning. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  brother, 

HAROLD. 


XXV 

To  his  Father 

No.  i,  Naval  Aeroplane  Squadron,  B.E.F., 
i2th  April,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Many  thanks  for  letter  received  yester- 
day telling  of  your  safe  return.  I  think  you 
must  have  omitted  enclosure.  By  the  way,  the 
papers  turned  up  the  day  after  you  left. 

Have  been  very  busy  the  last  two  days  with 
our  new  busses.  None  have  been  flown  yet,  but 
we  are  prepared  for  fireworks.  Three  men 
have  been  killed  on  them  in  Paris  in  the  last 
month.  Babington  and  Sippe  are  both  back. 
86 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

S G turned  base  over  apex  on  landing 

his  tabloid  [fast  scouting  machine]. 

i5th  April,  1915. 

Sad  to  relate,  I  have  decided  to  part  with  old 
873.  She  was  really  getting  too  ancient,  and 
has  now  been  packed  up  and  is  going  to  be 
sent  home  for  School  work;  too  bad,  isn't  it? 
It  would  have  been  a  far  better  ending  had  I 
crashed  her.  I  have  written  up  her  raids  in- 
side the  fuselage —  (i)  Friedrichshafen,  (2) 
Zeebrugge,  (3)  Ostend,  (4)  Ostend  again,  and 
(5)  Hoboken  —  some  record!  I  asked  per- 
mission to  fly  her  home,  but  the  C.O.  didn't  bite. 
I  was  awfully  disappointed. 

My  new  bus  is  a  Morane  parasol,  80  h.p. 
Le  Rhone.  They  are  supposed  to  climb  like 
fire  and  do  over  80  miles  per  hour,  but  are  very 
touchy  on  the  elevator  and  rather  trying  to  fly. 
I  have  not  yet  been  up  in  her. 

Garros  brought  another  machine  down  to- 
day, and  a  Frenchman  managed  to  fly  back  to 
our  own  lines  after  having  one  foot  smashed  by 
shrapnel  over  Ostend. 

i7th  April,  1915. 

Very  little  news  of  interest  to  tell  you,  but 
here  goes  for  what  there  is.  My  Morane  para- 
sol was  ready  to-day  and  Babington  tested  it. 
If  the  weather  is  fine  to-morrow,  I  shall  float 

8? 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

forth  on  it  into  the  "  ethereal  blue."  Not  hav- 
ing flown  a  monoplane  before,  I  am  all  of  a 
"  doo-da." 

Yesterday   I   went  out  to  see  the  War   at 

N .     Though  a  fine  day,  the  Bosches  were 

not  bombarding,  so  we  went  around  in  peace, 
and  I  brought  back  a  few  shell  fragments  with 
me  which  you  may  find  interesting.  For  the 
rest,  our  miserable  lives  continue  much  as  be- 
fore. The  Frenchmen  here  have  lost  a  ma- 
chine to-day,  but  the  R.F.C.  brought  down 
an  Aviatik  at  Wipers,  so  that  makes  us  all 
square. 


I9th  April,  1915. 

I  have  flown  my  Morane  twice.  It  is  a  most 
comic  affair,  but  I  think  I  shall  like  it  when  I 
get  more  used  to  it.  It  is  very  light  on  the 
controls,  especially  the  elevator,  and  gets  off 
the  ground  before  you  can  say  "  squeak." 
Garros  was  missing  last  night,  and  there  has 
since  been  a  rumour  that  he  is  a  prisoner  of 
war.*  This  is,  of  course,  a  nasty  knock  for  us. 

A  Frenchman  had  rather  a  bad  accident  here 
this  morning.  He  ran  over  the  bank  at  the 
top  end  of  the  aerodrome  in  a  Voisin  and  turned 

*  Lieutenant-aviator  Roland  Garros  (French)  was  forced 
to  land  near  Ingelmunster,  in  West  Flanders,  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  i8th  April,  and  was  taken  prisoner. 

88 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

a  complete  somersault.  The  machine  immedi- 
ately caught  fire.  The  passenger  got  off  all 
right,  but  the  pilot  was  badly  burnt.  Five  min- 
utes after  they  got  him  out  one  of  his  bombs 
went  off  with  a  terrific  bang.  The  machine  was 
entirely  wrecked. 


24th  April,  1915. 

Just  a  few  lines  to  let  you  know  I  am  still  in 
the  land  of  the  living.  I  see  in  the  papers  that 
Colonel  Kosher  (Dorsets)  has  been  killed  in 
the  Persian  Gulf.  The  Dorsets  seem  to  have 
had  a  pretty  rough  time. 

Spenser  Grey  [Squadron  Commander 
Spenser  D.  A.  Grey,  D.S.O.,  R.N.]  and  Mars- 
den  [Fit.  Lieut.  H.  S.  Marsden,  R.N.]  paid  a 
visit  to  Ostend  to-day  with  bombs,  and  Sippe 
was  turned  upside  down  on  the  ground  in  a 
Morane  by  a  gust  of  wind  this  afternoon.  He 
was  unhurt,  but  the  machine  was  badly  damaged. 


27th  April,  1915. 

Many  thanks  for  the  torches,  papers,  etc. 
There  is  nothing  much  doing  here  at  the  mo- 
ment. According  to  the  papers,  the  Germans 
are  making  another  dash  for  this  place.  There 
is  certainly  a  hell  of  a  row  going  on.  We  hear 
the  guns  day  and  night. 

89 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

29th  April,  1915. 

Not  a  line  from  any  one  for  quite  three  days ! 
Whatever  has  become  of  you  all?  There  has 
been  some  excitement  here  to-day.  To  begin 
with,  three  enemy  aircraft  came  over  here  before 
breakfast,  and  then  another  between  eleven  and 
twelve  o'clock.  It  was  most  comic  to  see  our 
infuriated  machines  dashing  off  into  the  atmos- 
phere in  pusuit,  with  not  an  earthly  chance  of 
catching  them.  Soon  after  eleven  o'clock  there 
was  a  big  explosion  in  the  town  and  we  all  did  a 
great  leap  into  the  air.  From  then,  for  nearly 
three  hours,  we  were  shelled  with  the  greatest 
regularity  at  five  minute  intervals.  We  all 
climbed  on  to  the  roof  of  one  of  our  sheds  and 
watched  through  glasses  the  explosions,  occur- 
ring to  the  second  almost;  big  stuff  it  was  too, 
12"  I  should  say,  and  fired  from  the  back  of 
Nieuport,  quite  20  miles  away.  The  total  bag 
was  40  killed  and  60  wounded.  They  put 
about  20  shells  into  the  town,  one  only  500 
yards  from  the  Sophie.*  To  give  you  an  idea 
of  the  damage  they  do,  one  shell  wrecked  two 
houses  entirely  and  half  of  both  houses  on  either 
side.  Windows  were  broken  in  the  streets  all 
round — "  some  "  mess,  I  can  tell  you. 

Love  to  all, 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

*The  villa  where  he  was  billeted. 
90 


THE    OVERTURNED    MORANE 

To  which  reference  is  made  in  the  accompanying 

note.     Lieut.    Rosher    was    under    the    machine 

when  the  photograph  was  taken 


A   SNAPSHOT   OF   LIEUT.    ROSHER 

Taken  about  the  period  of  this  accident 


WITH  THE  B.E.F. 

NOTE 

About  the  end  of  April  Lieut.  Rosher  crashed 
on  his  Morane  at  Dunkirk.  The  machine  over- 
turned and  was  completely  smashed  up,  but  he 
came  out  uninjured. 


TAKING  A  NEW  MACHINE  TO 
FRANCE 


NOTE 

In  the  second  week  of  May,  1915,  Harold 
Rosher  arrived  home  unexpectedly,  with  orders 
to  fly  a  new  machine,  a  B.E.  2  C,  from  Hendon 
to  Dunkirk.  He  tried  the  machine,  but  was 
not  satisfied  with  the  engirte.  On  the  12th 
May,  however,  he  telephoned  to  his  father  to 
come  to  the  aerodrome  to  lunch  with  him,  as  he 
intended,  if  possible,  to  make  a  start  immedi- 
ately after  lunch.  The  latter  accordingly 
joined  him,  and  about  3  p.m.  Harold  got  into 
the  machine  and  his  father  bade  him  farewell. 
As  he  rose,  one  could  hear  the  engine  missing, 
and  at  about  1000  feet,  realising  that  there  was 
clearly  something  wrong,  Harold  turned  back 
to  the  aerodrome.  Mechanics  from  the  makers 
were  sent  for  and  they  spent  a  day  or  two  on 
the  engine.  On  the  i6th  May,  as  he  was  told 
nothing  more  could  be  done  to  it,  he  decided  to 
move  of.  He  got  across  to  Dunkirk,  and  his 
experiences  en  route  are  described  in  the  follow- 
ing  letters. 


95 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 
XXVI 

To  his  Mother 

The  Grand  Hotel,  Folkestone. 

17th  May,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

I  was  up  betimes  yesterday  morning, 
but  did  not  get  away  from  Hendon  until  about 
7.0  a.m.  I  could  only  secure  half  a  dozen 
biscuits  and  a  cup  of  tea  before  leaving.  It  was 
very  thick,  and  clouds  at  4,000  feet.  I  went 
via  Harrow,  Staines,  and  Redhill.  Once  at 
this  last  place,  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  follow 
the  railway  line,  which  runs  straight  as  a  die 
to  Ashford.  My  engine  was  most  alarming, 
making  all  sorts  of  weird  noises,  and  I  was 
kept  very  busy  the  whole  way  spotting  the  field 
I  should  land  in  if  it  petered  out. 

A  pretty  strong  head  wind  made  the  going 
slow,  and  just  after  Redhill  I  ran  into  rain.  I 
stuck  it  for  half  an  hour,  getting  very  wet  and 
seeing  hardly  anything.  Then  the  engine 
showed  serious  signs  of  giving  up  the  ghost. 
What  finally  made  me  decide  to  come  down 
was  that  I  couldn't  get  any  pressure  in  my 
petrol  tank.  I  went  on  a  bit  and  then  chose  a 
good-looking  field  with  a  road  on  one  side  and 
some  houses  at  one  corner.  Here  I  landed  in 
great  style. 


TAKING  NEW  MACHINE  TO  FRANCE 

On  getting  down,  the  field  was  not  quite  so 
good  as  it  looked  from  above,  being  on  a  slope 
and  with  a  somewhat  uneven  surface.  The 
usual  crowd  collected,  despite  the  ram,  and  I 
soon  had  the  machine  covered  up  with  tar- 
paulins and  a  territorial  guard  installed.  I  had 

breakfast  with  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R close 

by,  and  afterwards  went  into  Headcorn,  a  mile 
away,  and  telephoned  to  the  Admiralty,  etc.  I 

had  lunch  with  the  R s  and  five  daughters 

(swish,  I  was  all  of  a  doo-da!),  and  then  spent 
the  whole  of  the  afternoon  trying  to  get  my 
beastly  engine  to  go.  It's  an  awful  dud. 

I  eventually  took  the  air  before  an  admiring 
crowd  at  about  5.0  p.m.,  and  made  for  Folke- 
stone soon  after.  It  was  a  wretched  evening, 
and  though  it  had  stopped  raining,  I  had  to 
come  down  to  under  2,000  feet  to  avoid  clouds. 
I  caught  a  glimpse  of  Wye  when  passing  Ash- 
ford.  Made  a  very  stunt  landing  here  and  met 
a  R.F.C.  officer  I  know.  We  came  straight  on 
to  the  Grand,  and  after  a  drink  at  the  Metro- 
pole,  I  had  a  bath,  then  dinner  and  a  smoke, 
and  went  to  bed.  To-day  it  is  blowing  a  gale 
and  raining  cats  and  dogs.  Am  proceeding  to 
Dover  first  opportunity. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


97 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XXVII 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

I9th  May,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  have  at  last  arrived  safely  at  my 
destination.  Yesterday  was  a  rotten  day,  but 
I  motored  to  Dover  in  the  afternoon  and  from 
there  into  St.  Margaret's  Bay,  where  I  saw  the 
holes  made  by  the  Zepp  bombs.  They  were 
most  disappointing,  being  very  small,  one  foot 
by  six  inches  deep.  They  were  incendiary  and 
not  explosive. 

I  took  the  air  from  Folkestone  this  afternoon 
at  3.15  and  circled  round  for  15  minutes,  getting 
to  only  2,000  feet.  At  that  I  pushed  off  across 
the  Channel.  My  engine  developed  a  most 
appalling  vibration,  and  I  hardly  hoped  to  reach 
the  other  side.  I  arrived  at  Calais  at  1,500 
feet,  and  struggled  on  up  the  coast  here. 

Things  are  much  as  usual.  I  am  taking  an 
80  Avro  out  to  an  advanced  base  to-morrow 
morning,  the  B.E.,  of  course,  being  useless. 
Maude  and  Andreae  are  at  Whale  Island,  the 
Commander  in  town,  and  Sippe  and  Wilson 
[J.  P.  Wilson,  D.S.O.,  Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.] 
in  Paris.  We  are  all  at  the  aerodrome  and 


TAKING  NEW  MACHINE  TO  FRANCE 

most  uncomfy  —  Baillie  [Lieut.  J.  E.  Innes 
Baillie,  R.M.A.]  on  leave,  and  Courtney  going 
on  sick  leave  to-morrow.  Please  send  the 
gramophone  at  once. 


2ist  May,  1915. 

Here  I  am,  going  strong  at  our  advanced 
base,  only  five  miles  behind  the  firing  line.  I 
was  up  yesterday  morning  at  four,  but  did  not 
get  away  in  the  Avro  until  five,  as  it  was  very 
misty.  I  arrived  here  in  due  course.  We 

have  a  ripping  little  villa  at .     It  is  a  most 

interesting  place;  the  King  of  the  Belgians 
lives  here.  We  were  shelled  the  night  before 
last,  and  a  Taube  came  over  this  morning  and 
dropped  a  bomb  at  the  end  of  the  aerodrome. 
Will  write  more  later. 


22nd  May,  1915. 

Nothing  very  much  in  the  way  of  news.  A 
Taube  came  right  over  the  aerodrome  this 
morning  at  about  7,000  feet.  I  at  once  went 
after  it  in  the  Avro,  but  got  nowhere  near. 
First  thing  this  morning  I  saw  a  Maurice  com- 
ing down  vertically  and  spinning  hard  —  lost 
sight  of  it  behind  the  housetops  —  pilot  and 
passenger  badly  hurt  —  was  surprised  to  hear 
they  were  alive.  It  was  a  horrid  sight. 
Anxiously  awaiting  arrival  of  gramophone. 

99 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

23rd  May,  1915. 

Turned  out  soon  after  five  this  morning  and 
went  up  for  an  hour  and  a  half  waiting  for 
Taubes.  I  chased  several  allied  machines,  but 
found  nothing  hostile.  Had  not  been  down 
twenty  minutes  before  one  came  out.  Later  on 
in  the  morning  two  came  right  over  the  aero- 
drome. I  went  up  in  pursuit,  but  got  nowhere 
near  them.  Things  are  pretty  lively  on  the 
whole.  Besides  the  regular  artillery,  there  is 
an  intermittent  cannonade  of  anti-aircraft  guns, 
either  from  us  at  the  Taubes  or  from  the  Huns 
at  us.  The  sky  becomes  absolutely  dotted  with 
little  puffs  of  shrapnel,  which  are  visible  for 
half  an  hour  at  least. 

This  evening  I  went  into  the  town.  It's  full 
of  life,  a  band  playing  and  all  the  shops  open. 

Babington  flew  my  B.E.  yesterday,*  and  the 
beastly  thing  nearly  caught  fire.  We  are  get- 
ting a  new  engine  for  it  from  Paris. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

*This  was  the  machine  he  flew  from  Hendon  to  Dun- 
kirk. 


100 


VI 
WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 


XXVIII 
To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S., 
B.  Squadron,  B.E.F. 
29th  May,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Have  not  written  for  ages,  but  you 
must  excuse,  as  we  have  been  so  busy.  This 
is  really  my  first  opportunity.  All  sorts  of 
things  have  been  happening.  To  begin  with, 
the  Commander  announced  the  other  night  that 
the  whole  wing  is  going  to  be  recalled  within 
the  next  two  months,  so  I  shall  anyhow  be 
home  again  before  long  —  expect  to  go  into 
seaplanes. 

We  had  a  Zep  scare  the  other  night,  though 
it  was  blowing  half  a  gale.  We  were  at  the 
aerodrome  all  night,  and  went  up  at  3.0  a.m. 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  —  eventually  got  to  bed 
at  6.0  a.m.  and  slept  until  10  o'clock. 

We  have  been  having  some  lovely  weather 
lately,  except  the  last  few  days,  which  have  been 
103 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

bad.  All  the  same  we  keep  flying  in  any 
weather,  sometimes  two  and  three  trips  a  day. 

I  went  out  to  the  War  the  other  afternoon  to 
see  one  of  our  anti-aircraft  guns.  We  fired 
into  the  German  trenches,  and  about  two 
minutes  later  they  replied  with  zest.  Four  or 
five  shells  whizzed  over  and  burst  about  30 
yards  behind  us  in  a  field.  I  picked  up  some 
fragments  almost  too  hot  to  hold.  We  were 
within  1000  yards  of  the  Huns  and  could  see 
their  and  our  own  trenches  rippingly  through 
glasses. 

Have  given  up  chasing  Taubes.  One  can 
never  get  them.  We  have  commandeered  an 
old  bathing  hut  for  our  office  at  the  aerodrome, 
and  have  rigged  up  an  awning  outside,  and 
bought  deck  chairs.  You  should  see  us  all 
lying  back  in  the  sun  with  field  glasses  glued 
to  our  eyes,  watching  the  various  aeroplanes, 
with  shrapnel  bursting  all  round  them.  Our 
shooting  is  awfully  bad  on  the  whole. 

Our  villa  is  first-rate,  and  oh!  the  gramo- 
phone has  arrived  safe  and  sound.  Willing 
hands  helped  to  unpack  it,  and  we  got  it  going 
in  record  time.  It  is  immensely  appreciated. 
We  had  some  Belgian  officers  to  dinner  the 
other  night,  and  last  night  we  visited  them. 
They  are  awfully  good  fellows  and  we  got  on 
famously.  Last  night  was  great  fun.  The 

Belgian  C had  unfortunately  swallowed 

104 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

two  submarines  by  mistake,  and  the  only  Eng- 
lish he  knew  was,  "  To  your  eyes."  This  we 
drank,  also  "  England  toujours  "  and  "  Vive  les 
Beiges."  English  and  French  songs  were  sung, 
etc.,  etc.  There  was  a  huge  uproar.  The  Bel- 
gian C would  insist  on  wearing  B 's 

hat,  and  bestowed  many  kisses  on  the  badge 
before  parting  with  it. 

I  do  wish  my  camera  would  arrive,  as  I  am 
missing  some  great  opportunities. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XXIX 

To  his  Sister 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S., 
B.  Squadron,  B.E.F. 
30th  May,  1915. 

DEAR  OLD  GIRL, 

Just  a  line  or  so,  which  I  fear  will  be 
late,  to  wish  you  many  happy  returns.  I  sup- 
pose I  shall  have  to  forget  these  occasions  very 
shortly,  or  at  least  to  pretend  to.  Am  enclos- 
ing a  pound  note  for  you  to  get  yourself  some 
105 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

oddments,  as  there  is  nothing  to  be  had  out 
here.  I  went  into  Dunkirk  for  lunch  to-day  — 
every  one  was  very  cheery.  I  had  a  wonderful 
view  of  part  of  the  front  this  evening,  every 
trench  and  shell  hole  standing  out  with  extraor- 
dinary clearness.  Am  hoping  to  be  home  again 
before  long. 
Very  best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  brother, 

HAROLD. 


XXX 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S., 
B.  Squadron,  B.E.F. 
ist  June,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Have  had  quite  a  number  of  thrills  since 
I  wrote  last.  Yesterday  afternoon  I  reached 
a  height  of  10,400  feet  on  my  Avro  on  a  recon- 
naissance, which  is  my  height  record  so  far  — 
some  vol  plane  descending. 

In  the  evening  we  had  a  'phone  message, 
"  Stand  by  to  attack  Zeppelin,"  and  on  looking 
out,  there  it  was  as  large  as  life  a  few  miles  out 
106 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

to  sea  and  very  high.  We  rushed  up  to  the 
aerodrome  and  got  off  by  8.40  p.m.  I  went 
straight  out  to  sea  after  it  and  got  to  6000  feet 
in  15  minutes,  but  was  never  within  ten  miles 
of  the  thing.  I  wasn't  overtaking  it  at  all,  but 
on  the  contrary  it  was  gaining  on  me,  and  after 
half  an  hour  I  lost  sight  of  it.  The  sun,  of 
course,  was  right  down  by  now  and  I  steered 
home  by  various  lights  on  shore,  for  the  coast 
was  quite  invisible.  Had  some  difficulty  in 
picking  out  the  aerodrome,  although  huge 
petrol  flares  were  out,  but  made  quite  a  good 
landing.  I  came  in  very  flat  but  never  saw  the 
ground  at  all.  I  touched  it  when  I  thought  I 
was  still  50  feet  up,  and  also  caught  the  top  of 
the  hedge  coming  into  the  aerodrome  —  it  was 

most  deceptive.     G ,  you  will  remember, 

was  killed  at  Hendon  through  not  flattening  out 
soon  enough. 

We  next  had  some  dinner,  but  mine  was 
spoilt  through  a  message  from  the  Commander, 
which  contained  instructions  for  me  to  drop 
bombs  on  an  airship  shed  at  Gontrode,  near 
Ghent.  The  moon  rose  soon  after  midnight 
and  at  1.30  a.m.  I  started  off.  Things  in 
general  have  a  most  depressing  aspect  at  that 
hour  of  the  morning.  I  went  out  to  sea  via 
Zeebrugge,  and  then  cut  inland.  When  I 
arrived  at  the  place,  there  was  a  thick  ground 
mist  and  dawn  was  just  breaking.  I  could  not 
107 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

see  the  sheds  at  all,  but  two  searchlights  were 
going  hard.  I  half  circled  round,  when  lo !  and 
behold!  I  sighted  the  Zeppelin  coming  home 
over  Zeebrugge.  I  turned  off  due  east  to  avoid 
being  seen,  intending  to  wait  until  he  came  down 
and  then  to  catch  him  sitting.  But  my  luck 
was  out.  One  of  the  searchlights  picked  me 
up,  and  anti-aircraft  guns  immediately  opened 
fire  on  me. 

Then  a  curious  thing  happened.  The  Zep- 
pelin sighted  me  (I  think  the  searchlights  were 
signalling)  and  immediately  came  for  me. 
This  was  the  tables  turned  on  me  with  a  venge- 
ance, and  the  very  last  thing  I  ever  dreamt  of. 
It  was  a  regular  nightmare.  I  was  only  6000 
feet  up,  and  the  Zepp,  which  was  very  fast, 
must  have  been  ten.  Without  being  able  to  get 
above  it,  I  was,  of  course,  helpless  and  entirely 
at  the  mercy  of  his  maxim  guns.  I  don't  think 
I  have  been  so  disconcerted  for  a  long  time. 
We  had  "  some  "  race !  He  tried  to  cut  me 
off  from  Holland,  but  I  got  across  his  bows. 
He  was  a  huge  big  thing,  most  imposing,  and 
turned  rapidly  with  the  greatest  of  ease.  I 
hung  around  north  of  Ghent,  climbing  hard, 
and  reached  8,500  feet,  but  the  Zepp  wasn't 
having  any.  He  wasn't  coming  down  while  I 
was  there,  and  I,  on  the  other  hand,  couldn't 
get  up  to  him,  as  he  had  risen  to  some  fabulous 
height,  so  after  a  bit  I  pushed  off  home  feeling 
108 


A    ZEPPELIN    AIRSHIP    BEING    USED    FOR   TRAINING   PERSONNEL 
AT   THE   JOHANNISTHAL   AERODROME,    NEAR    BERLIN 


A   ZEPPELIN   IN   THE    DOUBLE    SHED    AT   JOHANNISTHAL,    WITH 
THE    SMALLER   PARSEVAL   SHED    NEXT   DOOR 


A    TAUBE-TYPE    GERMAN    MONOPLANE 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

very  discontented  at  such  an  unsatisfactory  end- 
ing. What  else  could  I  do?  I  wasn't  going 
back  on  the  chance  of  spotting  the  sheds,  with 
anti-aircraft  guns  waiting  for  me  below  and  a 
Zepp  ready  to  pounce  on  me  from  above. 

I  disposed  of  my  bombs  in  the  sea  before 
landing,  and  got  back  after  three  hours  in  the 
air  —  eventually  got  to  bed  at  something  after 
6  a.m.  Have  been  in  to  see  the  Commander 
to-day,  and  he  was  kind  enough  to  tell  me  I  had 
done  all  that  was  possible.  He  also  gave  me  a 
little  job,  which  necessitates  my  getting  away 
soon  after  midnight  to-night.  Pray  the  Lord 
my  engine  holds  out ! 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

P.S. —  I  hear  the  Zepp  dropped  bombs  at 

.     I   must  have   followed   him   half-way 

across. 


109 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XXXI 

To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

2nd  June,  1915. 

DEAR  MUM, 

Just  a  line  to  let  you  know  how  I  fared 
last  night.  I  left  the  aerodrome  in  the  moon- 
light at  one  in  the  morning  and  I  did  not  at  all 
relish  it.  I  went  out  to  sea  past  Zeebrugge 
and  cut  in  over  Northern  Belgium.  Could  see 
the  lights  of  Flushing  quite  plainly,  but  it  was 
quite  hopeless  to  find  my  destination,  owing  to 
a  thick  ground  mist,  so  I  returned,  dropping  my 
bombs  on  Blankenberghe  on  the  way.  I  was 
only  away  i  %  hours,  and  it  was  just  getting 
light  as  I  got  back.  I  landed  with  the  help  of 
flares  and  got  to  bed  by  4  a.m. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


no 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

XXXII 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

5th  June,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Very  little  news  to  tell  you,  but  thought 
you  might  like  a  line  or  so.  I  saw  in  the  papers 
that  poor  old  Barnes  *  has  been  killed  and 
Travers  [H.  C.  Travers,  Fit.  Sub-Lieut,  R.N.] 
slightly  injured.  You  remember  meeting  them 
both  at  Hendon.  Their  names  appeared  in  the 
casualty  lists,  so  I  presume  it  was  not  an  ordi- 
nary smash.  Have  heard  no  particulars,  but 
I  should  fancy  they  both  went  up  at  night  after 
the  Zepps,  and  either  had  an  engine  failure 
or  misjudged  landing.  That's  another  old 
Hendonite  gone,  though  he  wasn't  one  of  the 
original  ones,  and  don't  think  he  is  in  the  big 
photo  group. 

We  lost  a  seaplane  pilot  out  here  the  other 
day.  He  was  brought  down  off  Ostend.  Also 
an  awfully  nice  Belgian  I  know  was  taken 
prisoner  two  days  ago. 

Have  returned  my  Avro  to  headquarters  and 
am  now  flying  my  B.E.  again.  I  only  hold 

*  Flight  Sub-Lieut.  Henry  Barnes  killed  in  an  accident 
near  London,  4th  Oct.,  1915. 

Ill 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

the  controls  just  on  getting  off  and  on  landing. 
I  don't  like  them  [the  B.E.  machines]  in  bad 
weather.  They  are  too  automatic.  I  have 
been  getting  some  fine  views  lately  of  the  lines. 
It's  most  interesting  up  this  way. 

Babington  went  home  some  days  ago  and 
Sippe  is  now  in  charge  here.  He  has  been 
unwell  the  last  three  days,  so  I  am  left  in  com- 
mand of  the  station  —  four  officers  under  me, 
over  30  men,  machines,  and  seven  or  eight 
motors  of  various  descriptions. 

Have  hopes  of  being  given  a  Nieuport  in  a 
day  or  so.  They  are  fast  scouts,  supposed  to 
do  over  90  miles  per  hour,  and  should  get  a 
Zepp  with  one  with  any  luck.  Don't  know 
when  I  am  rejoining  Babington. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XXXIII 
To  Us  Mother 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

5th  June,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

I  think  you  cannot  have  been  getting 
all  my  letters,  as  I  have  never  let  10  days  go 
112 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

by  without  a  line  or  so.  You  are  so  insistent 
on  numerous  letters  that  you  must  really  ex- 
cuse the  margin  or  I  shall  reduce  to  postcards. 
Yes,  I  got  the  five  pounds  all  right  and  am 
urgently  wanting  the  other.  You  don't  seem 
to  fully  realise  yet  that  I  have  left  Dunkirk, 
and  that  there  is  not,  and  never  has  been,  such 
a  thing  as  a  bank  within  miles  of  the  place. 
The  camera  and  papers  turned  up  yesterday, 
for  which  many  thanks.  Do  send  Flight  and 
the  Aeroplane.  I  have  not  seen  them  for 
weeks.  Am  just  about  fed  up  with  this  place. 
We  are  being  turned  out  and  having  tents  up 
at  the  aerodrome. 

Big  haul  last  night.  Warneford  [R.  A.  J. 
Warneford,  V.C.,  Fit.  Sub-Lieut,  R.N.]  caught 
a  Zepp  at  6,000  feet  and  did  it  in,  and  another 
was  caught  in  its  shed  by  Wilson  and  Mills 
[J.  S.  Wilson,  D.S.C.;  F.  Mills,  D.S.C.,  both 
Flight  Conidrs.,  R.N.]. 

There  was  also  a  huge  fire  at  the  hospital 
here  last  night.  All  the  wounded  men  were  got 
out,  and  the  sands  were  strewn  with  them  in 
beds,  etc. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 
XXXIV 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

8th  June,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

We  are  now  in  tents.  Great  news 
about  Warneford,  isn't  it?  He  certainly 
deserves  the  V.C.  Am  going  to  fly  a  Nieuport 
to-morrow. 

i2th  June,  1915. 

Things  have  been  going  on  much  as  usual 
the  last  few  days,  but  to-morrow  I  am  going 
down  south  somewhere  (I  don't  yet  know 
where)  to  do  some  spotting  for  the  army. 
Expect  to  be  away  about  ten  days  or  perhaps 
two  weeks.  Address  all  letters  as  usual.  It 
will  probably  be  some  time  before  I  receive 
them.  I  quite  expect  I  shall  run  across  a  num- 
ber of  people  I  know.  It  should  be  an  interest- 
ing visit,  plenty  of  shell  fire  though,  no  doubt. 

I  flew  a  Nieuport  the  other  day  and  hope 
later  to  get  one  of  my  own.  Have  not  yet 
heard  from  Babington.  Fear  our  chances  of 
getting  away  with  him  are  very  slender. 

Gramophone  going  strong. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 
114 


LIEUT.    ROSHER    FLYING   A    BRISTOL    "  BULLET 


A    FIRE    CAUSED    BY   LONG-RANGE    BOMBARDMENT 

Photographed  from  an  aero-plane 


FLIGHT    SUB-LIEUT.    WARNEFORD,    V.C.,    AND   HIS 
MORANE    " PARASOL  " 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

XXXY 

To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B  Squadron,  B.E.F. 

I9th  June,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

It's  ages  since  I  wrote,  but  it  can't  be 
helped,  as  I  have  been  so  awfully  busy.  For 
the  last  week  I  have  been  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  La  Bassee,  and  of  course  by  now  you 
have  seen  in  the  papers  all  about  the  heavy 
fighting  there.  The  bombardment  was  terrific, 
quite  impossible  to  describe.  One  day,  in  the 
afternoon,  I  saw  it  all  from  above.  The  small 
section  of  trenches  they  were  shelling  was 
simply  a  mass  of  smoke  and  dust,  a  perfect 
hell.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  I  went 
out  in  a  car  to  a  point  of  vantage  about  three 
miles  behind  the  line.  It  was  a  wonderful 
sight.  Though  not  near  enough  to  see  the 
infantry  advancing,  we  had,  all  the  same,  a  fine 
view.  Whenever  there  was  a  slight  lull  in  the 
firing,  we  heard  the  maxims  and  the  rifles  hard 
at  it. 

There  is  no  mistaking  the  battle  line  in  this 
part  of  the  world  —  a  long,  narrow  winding 
blighted  patch  of  land,  extending  roughly 
N.  and  S.  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see.  In  the 

11 5 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

middle  of  it  two  rows  of  trenches,  in  places 
only  50  yards  apart,  stand  out  very  con- 
spicuously. These  are  our  first  line  and  that 
of  the  Huns.  Behind  each  are  the  second  and 
third  lines,  with  little  zigzag  communicating 
trenches  between.  It  is  most  interesting. 
There  are  some  beastly  Archies  [anti-aircraft 
guns]  though,  which  come  unpleasantly  near 
first  shot.  Machines  are  being  hit  day  after 
day. 

Am  more  or  less  comfortable  on  the  whole, 
but  running  short  of  socks  and  hankies.  Am 
also  being  bitten  to  death  and  u  hae  my  doots  " 
about  their  being  mosquitoes.  Terrible  trouble 
with  machines.  I  crashed  an  undercarriage  the 
other  day  and  cannot  get  an  engine  to  go. 
Isn't  it  terrible  news  about  Warneford?  He 
fell  out  of  his  machine,  not  being  strapped  in. 
Babington  is  in  hospital.  His  foot  is  giving 
him  trouble  again,  so  fear  we  shall  not  get  away 
with  him  yet  awhile. 

The  dust  out  here  is  appalling.  Will  write 
again  as  soon  as  I  can. 

Best  love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


116 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

XXXVI 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Squadron,  Royal  Flying  Corps,  B.E.F. 

24th  June,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Very  little  news.  From  what  I  can  see, 
we  are  likely  to  be  down  here  for  at  least 
another  two  weeks.  I  don't  much  mind,  as  in 
a  way  I  would  sooner  be  here  for  a  little.  The 
change  though  has  rather  worn  off.  Am  not  a 
bit  comfortable,  my  billet  being  a  horrible  dirty 
place,  with  all  sorts  of  weird  odours.  Food 
pretty  fair,  but  none  too  clean,  and  all  eating 
utensils  invariably  very  dirty. 

I  suppose  tennis  is  in  full  swing  at  home. 
Pity  I'm  not  due  for  another  spot  of  leave  yet. 
I  got  the  parcel  of  papers  all  right,  but  not 
Flight  and  the  Aeroplane.  Think  they  must 
have  gone  astray. 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 
2ist  July,  1915. 

I  flew  my  old  B.E.  back  here   [Dunkirk] 
yesterday,  as  it  has  been  hot  stuffed  [requisi- 
tioned].    I  admit  it  is  rather  a  dud,  but  I  had 
no  wish  to  exchange  it  for  a  Voisin.     After 
117 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

some  little  trouble  I  persuaded  the  Commander 
to  let  me  have  a  Morane  instead,  and  tried 
quite  a  nice  one  this  morning,  the  first  time  I 
have  flown  one  since  I  smashed.  They  are 
beastly  unstable  things,  and  I  fully  expect  to, 
turn  this  one  over  before  the  week  is  out.  The 
Commander  is  keeping  me  here  for  a  few  days' 
rest  before  returning  to  the  R.F.C.  Dunkirk 
is  quite  a  lively  place  nowadays.  The  Huns 
have  dropped  bombs  on  the  aerodrome  twice 
in  the  last  week,  but  fortunately  none  of  the 
lads  were  killed. 
Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


NOTE 

On  the  2$th  July,  1915,  Harold  Rosher  ar- 
rived home  on  two  days'  leave,  having  come 
across  to  attend  a  conference. 


118 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  AGAIN 

XXXVII 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 
28th  July,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Have  had  a  ripping  journey  back.  The 
country  down  to  Folkestone  was  just  too  lovely 
for  words,  especially  round  Ashford.  Saw 
Milverton  [the  house  where  he  was  born]  on 
the  way.  Had  a  first-rate  crossing,  and  was 
met  by  one  of  the  Rolls  [Rolls-Royce  car]  at 
Boulogne,  so  your  wire  arrived  all  right.  Had 
lunch  at  the  "  Folkestone "  before  starting 
back,  and  then  a  topping  run  here.  Went  out 

to  see  the  lads  at  F in  the  evening.     Sippe 

is  back  again  and  Baillie  in  great  form.     He 
sends  his  chin  chins,  and  I  gave  him  yours. 

A  Hun  came  over  at  midnight  last  night  and 
bombed  us.  His  eight  bombs  fell  nearly  a  mile 
away,  though. 

3ist  July,  1915. 

More  excitement.  I  was  due  for  an  anti- 
aircraft patrol  this  morning,  and  just  as  I  was 
ready,  a  little  before  4.0  a.m.,  a  Hun  machine 
came  over  and  bombed  us.  Three  bombs  fell 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  me.  I  went  up 
119 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

after  him  at  once,  but  lost  sight  of  him  in  the 
air,  so  continued  the  usual  patrol.  When  I 
got  back,  I  found  that  six  other  machines  had 
followed  the  first,  arriving  about  fifteen  minutes 
after.  None  of  their  bombs  did  any  damage 
at  all.  They  seem  determined  to  strafe  this 
place.  A  regular  cloud  of  machines  goes  up 
after  them  whenever  they  appear,  but  we 
haven't  had  much  luck  as  yet. 

Expect  to  be  stationed  at  Dover  again  in 
about  ten  days,  for  a  little  while  anyhow.  The 
Commander  seems  to  think  I  don't  look  fit 
enough  to  go  out  to  the  Dardanelles.  Ap- 
parently they  are  being  bowled  over  with 
dysentery. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


1 20 


VII 
ON  HOME  SERVICE  AGAIN 


XXXVIII 
To  his  Father 

R.N.  Flying  School,  Eastchurch. 
3rd  August,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  left  Dover  yesterday  afternoon  on 
B.E.  2  C,  and  had  a  convenient  engine  failure 
at  Westgate.  Landed  in  the  aerodrome  and 
had  a  chat  with  Maude  before  proceeding. 
Arrived  here  in  due  course  —  it  is  a  most 
desolate  spot.  Shall  be  here  anything  between 
three  days  and  three  weeks.  Saw  Babington 
here  soon  after  I  arrived. 

ioth  August,  1915. 

I  don't  seem  to  be  able  to  get  away  from 
this  damn  war.  Last  night  "  old  man  Zepp  " 
came  over  here  — "  beaucoup  de  bombs," — 
"  pas  de  success."  Two  machines  went  up  to 
spikebozzle  him,  but,  of  course,  never  even  saw 
him.  A  sub  went  up  from  Westgate  and 
came  down  in  standing  corn.  He  turned  two 
somersaults.  Have  just  heard  that  he  has 
123 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

since  died.  I  knew  him  slightly.  We  have 
a  terrific  big  bomb  hole  in  the  middle  of  the 
aerodrome  and  numerous  smaller  ones  at  the 
back.  Expect  to  be  back  in  Dunkirk  on  Sun- 
day next.  "  Pas  de  Dardanelles."  We  are 
going  into  khaki  though. 
Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XXXIX 

To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
i2th  August,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Have  just  arrived  here  from  East- 
church,  having  been  suddenly  recalled,  and  am 
now  told  to  be  ready  to  cross  to  Dunkirk  in  half 
an  hour  —  no  gear,  dirty  linen,  "  pas  de  leave  " 
—  what  a  life ! 

Shall  try  hard  to  get  some  leave  in  a  week  or 
so's    time.     Anyhow    I    must    get    my    khaki 
outfit. 
Love. 

Your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 
124 


VIII 
WITH  THE  B.E.F.  ONCE  MORE 


XL 

To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

i3th  August,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Got  aboard  and  were  off  by  8.0  p.m.  last 
night  —  our  ship  a  comic  old  tramp  with  abso- 
lutely no  accommodation.  It  took  us  6  hours 
to  make  Dunkirk  and  we  were  not  allowed  off 
until  8.0  a.m.  this  morning.  Spent  the  night 
walking  about  or  trying  to  get  a  little  sleep  on 
deck  —  thank  God !  it  was  not  rough.  We  are 
all  "  fed  to  the  teeth !  "  In  all  probability  we 
shall  remain  out  here  another  six  months  now. 

The  Zepp  that  was  bombed  from  here  had 
actually  been  towed  right  into  Ostend  harbour. 
Every  one  that  went  had  his  machine  hit,  and 
one  man  is  missing.  This  place  was  bom- 
barded again  the  other  day  with  the  big  gun. 
Expect  we  are  in  for  a  merry  time. 

Love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 
127 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XLI 

To  his  Mother 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

26th  August,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

I  am  being  kept  very  busy  out  here. 
Last  night  there  was  a  comic  raid  on  the  Forest 
of  Houthulst.  It  is  six  or  seven  miles  behind 
the  lines  near  Dixmude,  and  the  Huns  use  it 
as  a  rest  camp  —  beaucoup  de  stores  and  am- 
munition there  too.  The  French  idea  was  to 
set  it  on  fire  with  incendiary  bombs.  Over 
forty  machines  took  part,  including  self  —  per- 
fect weather  conditions  —  no  clouds  but  very 
hazy,  so  when  one  got  high  up  one  was  almost 
invisible.  I  got  just  over  11,000  feet,  but 
even  then  had  one  or  two  shots  near  me. 
Below  me  the  air  was  simply  a  mass  of  bursting 
shrapnel.  French  artillery  also  opened  fire  on 
the  place.  There  must  have  been  beaucoup  de 
noise  in  the  forest.  Most  amusing  —  a  really 
soft  job  as  some  one  remarked. 

Love  to  all. 

Your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


128 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  ONCE  MORE 


NOTE 

The  French  official  account  of  the  raid  de- 
scribed in  the  foregoing  letter  was  as  fol- 
lows: — 

"  A  remarkable  series  of  air  raids  against 
German  positions  or  works  of  military  value 
are  reported  in  yesterday's  Paris  communiques. 
In  two  of  them  the  air  squadrons  were  larger 
than  any  previously  reported  since  the  beginning 
of  the  war. 

In  one  62  French  airmen  took  part.  .  .  . 

The  other  great  raid  was  undertaken  by 
airmen  of  the  British,  French,  and  Belgian 
armies,  and  the  British  and  French  navies,  to 
the  number  of  60.  Acting  in  concert,  they 
attacked  the  Forest  of  Houthulst,  in  Belgium, 
north-east  of  Ypres.  Several  fires  broke  out. 
All  the  aeroplanes  returned  safely.  .  .  .  Pre- 
viously the  largest  squadron  of  attacking  aero- 
planes was  one  of  48  machines  —  of  which  40 
were  British  —  which  attacked  the  Belgian 
coast  on  February  i6th  last." 


'129 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XLII 

To  his  Father 

No.  i  Wing,  R.N.A.S.,  B.E.F. 

26th  August,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

What  do  you  think  of  the  40  warships 
bombarding  Zeebrugge  ?  We  were  all  due  out 
there,  of  course,  some  spotting,  and  fighters  to 
protect  the  spotters.  As  luck  would  have  it, 
the  weather  was  dud  —  clouds  at  1,500  feet  — 
with  the  result  that  no  one  got  there  except 
a  solitary  fighter,  and  he  was  rewarded  by  a 
scrap  with  a  German  seaplane.  I  got  just  past 
Ostend,  but  gave  it  up  as  engine  was  running 
none  too  well. 

By  the  way,  Bigsworth  [A.  W.  Bigsworth, 
D.S.O.,  Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.]  this  morning 
dropped  a  60  Ib.  bomb  bang  on  top  of  a  Ger- 
man submarine  and  completely  did  it  in  —  jolly 
good  work. 

29th  August  1915. 

As  things  stand  at  present  I  understand  I  am 
not  going  out  to  the  Dardanelles.  I  must  say 
I  am  awfully  disappointed,  as  I  was  always 
rather  keen  to  go  out  there,  but  I  may  possibly 
have  a  better  job.  For  all  I  know  it  may  be  to 
rejoin  Babington. 

130 


WITH  THE  B.E.F.  ONCE  MORE 

Went  out  to  Furnes  yesterday  afternoon  to 
collect  more  of  my  gear.  While  out  there,  a 
German  machine  came  over  and  dropped  six 
bombs  on  us.  One  went  right  into  our  tent 
and  three  fell  within  forty  yards  of  me.  No 
one  was  hit.  We  all  ran  like  stags. 

2nd  September,  1915. 

Many  thanks  for  your  numerous  letters, 
including  two  forwarded,  and  beaucoup  de 
periodicals.  With  luck  I  shall  be  home  in  time 
for  your  birthday. 

Many  alterations  are  taking  place  here  and 
we  are  being  sadly  split  up.  Andreae  and  I 
are  very  soon  going  to  Dover  to  join  a 
mythical  "  C  "  group.  At  present  Andreae  and 
I  are  its  sole  components  —  even  a  Squadron 
Commander  is  not  yet  appointed.  I  am  to  be 
ist  Lieut.,  good  for  me,  but  fear  they  may  yet 
put  in  a  Flight  Commander.  In  all  probability 
we  shall  be  in  England  over  two  months.  Shall 
know  a  heap  more  in  a  few  days. 

9th  September,  1915. 

Very  little  news  except  that  we  had  the 
monitors  bombarding  Ostend  the  day  before 
yesterday.  It  was  a  fine  sight  from  the  air.  A 
Frenchman  was  badly  hit  in  the  leg  going  out 
there,  but  went  on,  dropped  his  bombs  and  got 
back.  He  is  not  expected  to  live.  Another 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

Frenchman  broke  his  leg  this  morning  in  an 
accident.  Four  new  subs  have  turned  up  here 
and  I  am  to  go  home  as  soon  as  they  can  fly 
the  fast  machines  —  it  should  be  within  10  days. 
I  ought  to  have  gone  home  by  rights  about 
two  weeks  ago.  Am  flying  over  when  I 
eventually  do  come.  The  last  two  machines 
that  went  over  both  crashed  at  Folkestone  — 
shall  probably  do  the  same. 
Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


132 


IX 

ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 


XLIII 
To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
1 3th  September,  1915. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Am  back  again  in  England  at  last  and 
am  expecting  to  get  two  weeks'  leave  in  a  day 
or  so.  I  got  here  at  midday  yesterday,  having 
flown  over  from  Dunkirk  on  a  Nieuport. 
Drove  out  to  Margate  yesterday  afternoon  with 
Spenser  Grey.  Shall  probably  go  out  again  on 
the  ist  December. 

i4th  September,  1915. 

Just  a  line  to  let  you  know  my  probable 
movements.  Though  I  am  due  for  two  weeks' 
leave,  it  seems  improbable  that  I  shall  get  it 
just  yet  awhile,  but  shall  not  be  returning  to 
Dunkirk  until  December  ist,  when  I  shall 
remain  out  there  for  two  months. 

I  have  just  taken  over  the  ist  Lieutenant's 
job  on  this  station,  and  this  is  keeping  me  busy 
135 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

no  end.  I  am  the  senior  officer,  bar  the  C.O., 
in  fact  2nd  in  Command,  and  am  responsible 
for  everything  going  on  at  the  station,  i.e.  all 
executive  work,  etc.  It  is,  of  course,  all  new 
to  me,  and  I  find  myself  at  sea  every  now  and 
again.  It  is,  however,  a  great  opportunity. 
You  should  see  me  take  parades  (divisions,  we 
call  them) ,  swish! 

Please  send  me  on,  as  soon  as  possible,  my 
new  monkey  jacket  and  new  pair  of  trousers, 
also  new  hat.  My  present  uniform  is  most 
disreputable,  covered  in  oil,  etc.,  and  must  be 
scrapped  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 

29th  September,  1915. 

I  knew  I  should  forget  it,  your  birthday  I 
mean.  I  suddenly  remembered  it  whilst  shav- 
ing this  morning.  I  have  been  carrying  a  two- 
year-old  note  book  about  with  me  too,  to  remind 
me,  as  it  was  marked  in  it  —  pas  de  good  though, 
and  it's  such  a  long  time  ago  now.  Beaucoup 
de  work,  or  I  would  have  written  sooner. 

I  have  just  heard  a  nasty  rumour  that  I  am 
returning  to  Dunkirk  on  October  i5th.  We 
are  getting  40  subs  down  here  in  a  few  days. 
That  means  tons  more  work  for  me. 

4th  October,  1915. 

I  think  I  shall  get  my  leave  (10  days  only) 
next  week.  Risk  [Major  C.  E.  Risk,  Squadron 

136 


A   BRISTOL    SCOUT    BIPLANE    (OR    "BULLET") 


THE   MORANE    "  PARASOL  "    MONOPLANE 


Flown  by  Flight  Sub-Lieut.  Warneford,  V.C.,  when  he  destroyed  a 
Zeppelin 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

Commander,  R.N.]  asked  me  if  I  would  like 
to  remain  here  as  ist  Lieutenant,  an  awful 
question  to  decide.  I  think  I  shall  let  things 
stay  as  they  are  and  take  my  flight  out  to 
Dunkirk  on  October  i5th.  It  seems  too  much 
like  giving  in  to  stay  here. 

30th  October,  1915. 

You  picked  me  out  a  ripping  train!  It  took 
me  four  hours  to  get  down  here  with  a  change 
at  Faversham.  When  I  arrived  at  the  Priory 
Station  I  was  told  it  would  be  half  an  hour 
before  the  train  could  proceed  to  the  Harbour, 
so  had  to  get  out  and  walk.  I  got  in  here  at 
ten  past  ten,  and  the  last  straw  was  that  Betty 
had  no  sandwiches  left. 

Graham  [C.  W.  Graham,  D.S.O.,  Fit.  Lieut, 
R.N.]  nearly  killed  himself  this  afternoon. 
He  got  into  a  spinning  nose  dive  on  a  Morane 
parasol,  and  by  the  Grace  of  God  got  out  again 
at  500  feet.  In  all  probability  I  shall  get  my 
leave  after  this  next  lot  of  pilots  have  gone  out 
to  Dunkirk,  but  that  remains  to  be  seen. 

i4th  November,  1915. 

Am  postponing  my  leave  until  still  later,  as 
it  is  rather  important  for  me  to  stay  here  at  the 
moment.  Good  things  so  very  rarely  come  off 
though.  I  shall  be  most  bitterly  disappointed, 
however,  if  another  two  months  does  not  see 
me  on  Active  Service  again. 
137 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

3oth  November,  1915. 

Can  you  come  down  this  week-end?  I  have 
great  hopes  that  Husky  and  Baillie  will  be  back 
from  the  other  side. 

Apparently  they  had  quite  a  good  bag  a  day 
or  so  ago,  one  Hun  seaplane,  one  submarine, 
and  a  bomb  bang  in  the  middle  of  a  T.B.D. 
[torpedo  boat  destroyer]. 

Risk  is  away  most  of  this  week,  but  should 
be  back  by  Saturday.  He  flew  a  Maurice  over 
from  Dunkirk  last  week  and  made  quite  a  land- 
ing on  arrival. 

i5th  December,  1915. 

I  so  much  enjoyed  my  too  short  week-end. 
I  fear  I  shall  not  be  able  to  get  up  to  Town 
again  until  after  Xmas.  Had  quite  a  nice 
journey  down,  making  Stewart's  [W.  S.  Stew- 
art, Fit.  Sub-Lieut.,  R.N.]  acquaintance  on  the 
way,  likewise  his  wife's. 

Risk  said  he  thought  I  had  been  away  months 
and  seemed  quite  relieved  to  see  me  back  again. 
Graham  and  Ince  [S.  Ince,  D.S.C.,  Fit.  Sub- 
Lieut,  R.N.]  have  put  up  a  first-rate  per- 
formance. They  were  not  shot  down.  Gra- 
ham came  down  low  to  see  the  Huns  in  the 
water,  and  his  engine  never  picked  up  again. 
The  Hun  machine  caught  fire,  and  must  have 
had  bombs  on  it,  for  it  exploded  on  hitting 
the  water.  Both  machines  fell  bang  in  the 

138 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

middle  of  the  fleet,  which  was  duly  impressed. 
Graham,  of  course,  turned  a  somersault,  and 
both  he  and  Ince  were  nearly  drowned. 

ist  January,   1916. 

Had  a  great  evening  last  night.     A  crowd  of 

us  went  to  dinner  with  G •  to  see  the  New 

Year  in.  We  did  it  in  style.  To-morrow  I 
am  lunching  with  the  Bax-Ironsides.* 

I  looped  on  a  B.E.  2  C.  in  great  form  the 
other  day.  If  I  had  not  been  very  securely 
strapped  in,  I  should  have  fallen  clean  out. 
As  it  was,  the  cushion  in  the  passenger's  seat 
fell  out  and  vanished.  One  seems  to  be  upside 
down  for  a  frightfully  long  time.  I  did  the 
trick  out  in  the  country  at  between  three  and 
four  thousand  feet.  The  first  time  I  had 
barely  enough  speed,  so  had  a  second  shot  and 
got  up  to  over  100  knots.  I  really  thought 
the  wings  would  fall  off.  We  had  two  topping 
crashes  yesterday,  but  neither  of  the  pilots 
hurt. 

Tons  of  love  and  a  prosperous  New  Year. 
Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

*  Sir  Henry  Bax-Ironside,  late  Minister  in  Bulgaria. 


139 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XLIV 
To  his  Grandmother 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
27th  September,   1915. 

DEAR  GRANNY, 

Am  so  sorry  to  hear  you  have  been 
having  such  a  rotten  time,  but  trust  you  are  by 
now  well  on  the  road  to  recovery. 

I  have  been  having  an  awfully  busy  time 
lately.  The  King  came  down  here  to  inspect 
us  on  Thursday,  and  shook  hands  with  all  the 
officers  in  the  afternoon. 

Am  by  degrees  helping  to  get  together 
another  squadron  to  go  out  to  Dunkirk.  We 
are  due  across  there  half  way  through  next 
month.  I  am  not  particularly  anxious  to  go 
out  again  just  yet,  unless  we  can  really  get  a 
move  on. 

I  hope  before  I  go  to  get  a  little  leave.  I 
am  due  for  two  weeks,  so  may  see  you  in  the 
near  future. 

Heaps  of  love. 

Your  loving  grandson, 

HAROLD. 


140 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

XLV 

To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 

3rd  January,  1916. 

DEAR  DAD, 

I  have  got  wind  of  something  rather 
priceless  .  .  .  for  when  the  war  is  over,  I 
will  tell  you  a  little  about  this  scheme,  only 
remember  it's  strictly  private  and  confidential, 
so  you  must  not  mention  it  to  any  one. 

In  a  nutshell  it's  this,  a  flight  from to 

.     It  sounds  rather  impossible  at  first,  but 

I  think  quite  a  number  of  people  would  have  a 
shot  if  they  could  get  some  one  to  pay  expenses. 
This  is  where  I  get  a  look  in.  The  experience 
anyhow  would  be  wonderful.  One  of  the  subs 
here  has  just  put  me  up  to  it,  and  says  he  has 
everything  arranged.  That  sounds  rather 
rapid,  but  he  has  written  for  an  appointment,  so 
I  shall  be  able  to  let  you  know  later  how  things 
go.  In  the  meanwhile  lie  doggo  and  do  come 
down  this  week-end,  if  possible,  so  that  we  can 
talk  things  over. 

Very  best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


141 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 
XLVI 

To  his  Mother 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
4th  February,  1915. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Just  a  short  line  to  let  you  know  I  am 
crossing  to  Dunkirk  to-morrow,  weather  per- 
mitting. I  am  flying  a  R.A.F.  B.E.  across  and 
returning  the  same  day,  in  a  Nieuport  if  avail- 
able, otherwise  in  a  destroyer.  Am  quite 
looking  forward  to  the  trip.  Have  already 
crossed  the  Channel  three  times  by  air  and 
about  twelve  by  water. 
Beaucoup  de  love. 

Your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XLVII 
To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
5th  February,  1916. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Had  a  most  interesting  day  yesterday. 

Started  off  across  Channel  for  Dunkirk  soon 

after    8.0    a.m.    in    a    R.A.F.    B.E. —  engine 

running  badly  at  first,  but  picked  up.     A  most 

142 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

priceless  morning  with  a  slight  following  wind 
— 5,000  feet  at  Calais,  and  made  Dunkirk  in 
about  %  hour  from  here.  All  the  lads  in  great 
form,  but  Petre  [J.  J.  Petre,  D.S.C.,  Fit. 
Comdr.,  R.N.]  and  Peberdy  [W.  H.  Peberdy, 
F.  Sub-Lieut,  R.N.]  in  Paris,  and  Mulock 
[R.  H.  Mulock,  D.S.O.,  Fit.  Comdr.,  R.N.] 
in  hospital  with  a  chill.  Baillie  going  strong, 
also  Beard  [G.  H.  Beard,  D.S.C.,  Fit.  Comdr., 
R.N.],  Haskins  [F.  K.  Haskins,  D.S.C., 
Squadron  Comdr.,  R.N.], Graham,  Peal  [Lieut. 
E.  R.  Peal,  D.S.C.,  R.N.V.R.],  etc.,  etc. 
Breakfast  and  then  a  good  look  round.  The 
Baby  Nieuports  are  priceless.  I  flew  one  and 
went  up  the  coast  to  La  Panne  and  Furnes. 
When  I  got  back  I  drove  out  to  Caudekirk  to 
the  new  aerodrome,  and  then  back  for  lunch. 

At  2.0  p.m.  I  started  home  in  a  Nieuport 
and  made  Folkestone  in  just  over  the  hour  — 
rather  a  strong  head  wind.  At  Folkestone  I 
spent  ii/2  hours  trying  to  restart  my  engine,  but 
with  no  success,  so  telephoned  for  a  car  —  tea 
at  the  Grand  and  back  here  in  time  for  dinner. 
Have  been  to  Folkestone  this  afternoon  with 
Ince  and  his  brother  and  Husky. 

Heaps  of  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

P.S. —  Flew  back  at  2,000  feet. 
143 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

XLVIII 
To  his  MotHer 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
9th  February,  1916. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Many  thanks  for  letter.  Am  still  going 
strong.  Flew  four  different  types  of  machines 
to-day,  two  of  them  new  ones,  one  a  Shorthorn 
Maurice,  and  the  other  a  Bleriot.  The  Bleriot 
is  the  first  monoplane  I  have  flown  other  than 
a  parasol. 

You  have  heard  me  mention  Graham  (with 
Ince  he  brought  down  the  German  seaplane). 
Well,  he  has  just  had  an  awful  bad  crash  at 
Dunkirk.  Penley  [C.  F.  B.  Penley,  Fit.  Sub- 
Lieut.,  R.N.]  also  has  crashed  badly  twice  out 
there,  and  is  now  back  on  sick  leave.  Ford 
[E.  L.  Ford,  Fit.  Sub-Lieut.,  R.N.]  too  is  home 
on  sick  leave  with  his  head  cut  open,  as  the 
result  of  a  bad  crash,  and  his  passenger  is  not 
expected  to  live.  If  one  goes  on  flying  long 
enough,  one  is  bound  to  get  huffed  [killed]  in 
the  end. 

By  the  way,  Commander  Lambe  [Capt.  C. 
L.  Lambe,  Wing  Captain,  R.N.]  has  shipped 
another  stripe.  He  is  now  Wing  Captain  and 
acting  Captain. 

144 


A    B.E.    2C   BIPLANE 


A   NIEUPORT   BIPLANE 

(Commonly  known  as  a      I J  plane  "  owing  to  the  small  lower  plane) 


A    BLERIOT   MONOPLANE 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

Yesterday  I  flew  to  Chingford  in  a  B.E.  2  C. 
with  Blanch  [N.  C.  Blanch,  Fit.  Sub-Lieut., 
R.N.]  as  passenger.  It  was  awfully  cold.  It 
took  2%  hours  going,  via  Ashford,  Redhill, 
Brooklands  and  Hendon.  Blanch  took  the 
B.E.  back,  and  I  took  a  new  Bristol  Scout  and 
did  the  return  journey  direct  (east  of  London) 
in  an  hour.  Saw  the  Pemberton-Billing  quad- 
ruplane  at  Chingford. 

Best  love. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


XLIX 

To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 

nth  February,  1916. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Had  hopes  of  seeing  you  for  a  few 
minutes  to-day.  Had  the  weather  been  fine, 
Husky  and  I  were  motoring  to  Town  in  the 
morning  with  Capt  Lambe  in  a  Rolls,  and  both 
bringing  machines  back  in  the  afternoon  from 
Chingford.  As  it  is,  of  course,  the  weather  is 
impossible. 

145 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

I  was  away  first,  in  under  three  minutes,  the 
other  day  when  the  Germans  were  reported 
over  Ramsgate.  I  was  over  the  North  Fore- 
land in  quarter  of  an  hour  at  6,000  feet.  Was 
just  turning,  when  I  sighted  a  seaplane  miles 
below  me,  so  cut  off  my  petrol,  and  did  a  spiral 
vol  plane  towards  it.  At  4,000  feet  I  ran  into 
mist  and  lost  him  temporarily,  but  picked  him 
up  again  and  chased  him  up  the  mouth  of  the 
Thames  almost  as  far  as  Herne  Bay.  Then 
he  turned  and  shot  under  me,  and  I'm  blessed 
if  it  wasn't  a  Schneider  Cup,  one  of  our  own 
machines  from  Westgate !  I  did  not  hear  that 
bombs  had  been  dropped  until  I  saw  it  in  the 
papers  the  following  morning.  I  thought  the 
scare  was  about  our  own  seaplane. 

Visited  the  Blimps  [small  airships]  this 
afternoon  at  Capel.  They  are  really  most 
interesting. 

I3th  February,  1916. 

Many  thanks  for  note  received  this  morning. 
As  far  as  I  can  see,  there  is  no  chance  of  my 
going  out  to  the  other  side  yet  awhile.  Husky 
goes  on  the  25th  and  Andreae  a  little  later. 
Two  good  crashes  to-day.  First  Blanch  on 
a  new  Avro  —  engine  failure  and  landed  down 
wind  in  a  ploughed  field.  The  second  was 
better  still.  A  man  hit  the  one  and  only  tree 
within  miles,  in  getting  off  on  a  B.E.  He  left 
146 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

half  a  lower  plane  in  the  tree  and  carried  a 
branch  or  so  on  with  him  for  some  little 
distance  before  crashing  to  earth. 

I  hear  Graham  is  no  better.     He  fractured 
the  base   of  his   skull  and  also   has  internal 
injuries. 
Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


L 

To  his  Mother 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
20th  February,  1916. 

DEAREST  MUM, 

Another  raid  on  Deal  to-day,  five  bombs 
dropped  and  one  man  killed.  I  took  over  the 
War  flight  this  morning,  and  had  a  patrol  in 
the  air  at  the  time.  I  myself  and  others  were 
off  within  a  few  minutes  of  receiving  the  signal, 
but  no  one  even  saw  the  machine. 

Over    sixty    ratings    arrived    this    morning 
without  warning,  and  I  had  to  make  all  arrange- 
ments for  them  to  be  fed,  housed  and  washed. 
All  of  them  were  Derby  recruits  and  had  been 
147 


WITH  THE  FLYING  SQUADRON 

in  the  Service  24  hours,  mostly  graded  as  A.M. 
2nd  class.  None  had  seen  an  aeroplane  before. 
They  were  butchers,  grocers,  cotton  spinners, 
weavers,  etc. 

The  C.O.  goes  away  to-morrow  for  2  weeks. 
Sippe,  Andreae,  Husky,  Viney  [T.  E.  Viney, 
D.S.O.,  Fit.  Lieut.  R.N.],  etc.  go  to  Paris  in 
a  day  or  so,  and  I  am  left  to  run  the  Station, 
School  and  War  flight,  keeping  up  a  continuous 
patrol  with  four  machines. 

Love  to  all. 

Your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 


LI 

To  his  Father 

Hotel  Burlington,  Dover. 
24th  February,  1916. 

DEAR  DAD, 

Many  thanks  for  letter  received  yester- 
day. 

Risk  is  still  in  town.     I  would  far  sooner 

get  out  East  somewhere  than  any  home  station 

or  Dunkirk.     I  understand  shortly  there  will 

be  great  alterations  in  the  R.N.A.S.     Rumour 

148 


ON  HOME  SERVICE  ONCE  MORE 

has  it  again  that  we  are  to  give  up  land  machines 
entirely  and  stick  to  seaplanes. 

Drove  over  to  Eastchurch  yesterday  on 
business,  roads  in  places  18"  deep  in  snow. 
Coming  back  I  had  a  priceless  skid  and  finished 
up  in  a  ditch.  No  one  hurt  or  even  shaken. 
Returned  here  by  train,  and  car  came  on  to-day. 
It  was  very  little  damaged,  steering  arm  bent, 
and  one  wheel  slightly  out  of  truth.  It  was 
really  rather  comic. 

Did  you  hear  how  Usborne  and  Ireland  * 
were  killed?  If  not,  will  tell  you  later. 
T was  burnt  to  death. 

Love  to  all. 

Ever  your  loving  son, 

HAROLD. 

*  Wing-Commander  Neville  F.  Usborne,  R.N.,  and 
Squadron  Commander  de  C.  W.  P.  Ireland,  R.N.,  were  killed 
2srd  Feb.,  1916. 


THE   END 


PRINTED   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES   OF  AMERICA 
149 


T 


HE   following    pages  contain  advertisements    of   a 
few  of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects. 


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Cloth,  i2mo,  $1.50 

"  A  powerful,  strong  story.  .  .  .  Has  wonderful  pages 
.  .  .  gems  of  emotional  literature.  .  .  .  Nothing  could  ex- 
press the  whole,  momentous  situation  in  England  and  in 
the  United  States  in  so  few  words  and  such  convincing 
tone.  .  .  .  For  clear  thinking  and  strong  feeling  the  finest 
picture  of  the  crises  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  that  has 
yet  been  produced." — Philadelphia  Ledger. 

"The  most  thoughtfully  and  carefully  worked  out  book 
Mr.  Wells  has  given  us  for  many  a  year.  ...  A  veritable 
cross-section  of  contemporary  English  life  .  .  .  admirable, 
full  of  color  and  utterly  convincing." — New  York  Times. 

"A  war  epic.  ...  To  read  it  is  to  grasp  as  perhaps 
never  before  the  state  of  affairs  among  those  to  whom  war 
is  the  actual  order  of  the  day.  Impressive,  true,  tender 
.  .  .  infinitely  moving  and  potent." —  Chicago  Herald. 

"The  most  significant  and  impressive  book  which  has 
come  from  Mr.  Wells'  pen.  ...  A  strong  book  that  every 
reader  must  prize." — New  York  World. 


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Publishers    64-66  Fifth  Avenue    New  York 


Official  Diplomatic  Documents  Relating  to 
the  Outbreak  of  the  European  War 

EDITED  BY  EDMUND  VON  MACH. 

Cloth,  8vo,  $6.00 

The  features  of  this  collection  of  diplomatic  documents 
may  be  seen  from  the  following  digest  of  the  table  of  con- 
tents :  Preface ;  Calendar  of  despatches  sent  and  received ; 
Despatches  sent  and  received  at  the  various  foreign  offices, 
arranged  by  names  and  places,  with  diaries,  summaries  of 
dispatches,  and  footnotes ;  The  parts  of  the  several  official 
publications  of  diplomatic  documents  not  printed  under 
Part  III;  Documents  frequently  quoted  but  not  contained 
in  the  official  publications  of  collected  diplomatic  docu- 
ments—  The  Chancellor's  speech,  August  4th,  1914;  The 
"  Brussels "  documents,  the  telegrams  exchanged  between 
the  Royal  and  Imperial  courts  of  London,  Berlin  and 
Petrograd,  and  The  Several  official  publications  of  collected 
diplomatic  documents  in  photographic  reproduction. 

Politics 

BY  HEINRICH  VON  TREITSCHKE. 

Translated  from  the  German  by  Blanche  Dugdale  and 
Torben  de  Bille.  With  an  Introduction  by  the  Right  Hon- 
orable Arthur  James  Balfour,  and  with  an  American  Fore- 
word by  A.  Lawrence  Lowell,  President  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. 

In   two   volumes.    Cloth,   8vo.    $7.00  per  set,   boxed. 

"  So  much  has  been  said  about  the  influence  of  Professor 
Heinrich  von  Treitschke  on  German  contemporary  political 
thought  that  this  translation  of  his  Politics  will  be  welcome 
to  English  and  American  readers,  more  especially,  perhaps, 
to  the  latter  because  they  are  probably,  as  a  rule,  less 
familiar  with  the  principles  it  asserts,"  writes  President 
Lowell  in  the  Foreword  which  he  has  prepared  for  the 
American  edition  of  this  important  publication.  The  text, 
which  follows  the  Right  Honorable  Arthur  James  Balfour's 
introduction,  is  divided  into  five  main  sections :  first,  The 
Nature  of  the  State,  Its  Underlying  Idea  and  the  Conse- 
quences Thereof;  second,  The  Social  Foundations  of  the 
State :  The  Land  and  the  People :  Divisions  of  Classes  and 
'Diversity  of  Aims;  third,  The  Varieties  of  Political  Con- 
stitutions; fourth.  The  State  Considered  in  Regard  to  Its 
Influence  upon  Rulers  and  Ruled :  Government ;  fifth,  The 
State  Considered  in  Relation  to  International  Intercourse. 


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Publishers     64-66  Fifth  Avenue     New  York 


ON  KINDRED  SUBJECTS 

THE  WAR  IN  THE  AIR 

BY  H.  G.  WELLS. 
Decorated  cloth,  Illustrated,  I2mo,  $1.50 

In  this  breathlessly  interesting  story  of  battle  and  ad- 
venture in  the  clouds,  Mr.  Wells  describes  the  havoc  and 
devastation  wrought  by  the  new  engines  of  war.  No 
accounts  of  the  aerial  bombardments  and  battles  of  the 
present  European  struggle  are  as  vivid  and  as  scientifically 
true  as  those  contained  in  this  remarkable  book,  written 
over  six  years  ago. 

Mr.  Wells  is  beyond  question  the  most  plausible  romancer 
of  the  time.  .  .  .  He  unfolds  a  breathlessly  interesting 
story  of  battle  and  adventure,  but  all  the  time  he  is  think- 
ing of  what  our  vaunted  strides  in  mechanical  invention 
may  come  to  mean.  .  .  .  Again  and  again  the  story,  absorb- 
ing as  it  is,  brings  the  reader  to  a  reflective  pause." — The 
New'  York  Tribune. 

AIRCRAFT  IN  WAR 

BY  J.  M.  SPAIGHT,  LL.D. 
AUTHOR  OF  "  WAR  RIGHTS  ON  LAND." 

8vo,  $2.00 

"  A  thoroughly  sound  and  comprehensive  survey  of  a 
problem  which  is  only  just  entering  the  field  of  international 
politics.  .  .  .  Clear  and  free  enough  from  technical  difficul- 
ties to  make  it  extremely  interesting  to  every  class  of  in- 
telligent reader  who  desires  to  be  informed  upon  the 
rapidly  changing  conditions  of  modern  warfare." — London 
Daily  Telegraph. 

"  Dr.  Spaight's  views  and  proposals  will  undoubtedly  be 
received  with  respect  and  read  with  interest." — London 
Globe. 

STABILITY  IN  AVIATION 

BY  G.  H.  BRYAN. 
Cloth,  Illustrated,  8vo,  $2.00 

This  work  will  lead  to  aeroplane  stability  being  made 
the  subject  of  much  more  continuous  study  and  investiga- 
tion than  has  been  possible  in  the  past.  The  author's  con- 
clusions show  that  there  should  be  no  difficulty  in  securing 
inherent  stability,  both  longitudinal  and  lateral,  in  an  aero- 
plane, by  means  of  suitably  placed  auxiliary  surfaces  rigidly 
attached  to  the  machine. 


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